Brazil: Priest Fined $3,000 For Saying Someone is "Pro-Abortion"

[Modem Butterfly]

http://www.religionjournal.com/showarticle.asp?id=3152

The Catholic News Agency (CNA) reports that last week judges in Brasilia ordered Father Luiz Carlos Lodi da Cruz, president of the Pro-life Association of Anapolis, to pay a fine of $3,000 for damages against Diniz, the director of the Institute on Bioethics, Human Rights and Gender.

The court also ordered Rev. Lodi to refrain from using the word "pro-abortion" to describe those who support abortion. CNA notes that upon hearing the sentence, the Brazilian priest wondered aloud "what adjective should be used then to describe someone who defends abortion, since certainly one who defends divorce is not offended by being called pro-divorce nor is a supporter of Communism by being called a communist."

"The judges failed to indicate which word in our language is acceptable, and has the same meaning but is non-offensive, for describing someone who openly defends abortion," Father Lodi said.

An appeal of the ruling was stuck down leaving only an appeal to the Supreme Court.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Finally

Someone gets it - albeit in Brazil. The power of the language.

The "pro-life" people have done this to us pro-choicers, framing us as "pro-abortion" and "pro-death," while we've let them get away with it.

I have never understood why this has gone unchallenged in the United States by the pro-choice people.

We're all "pro-life." They are "anti-choice," and no one is calling them on it. It's driven me nuts for years.

At least in Portuguese, the words have meaning................

[Selatius]

3. A good many of them are "pro-death"

They support the death penalty.

[Selatius]

2. The line that defines defamation can be hard to see indeed.

I've never met anyone who was "pro-abortion." Ultimately, it's a horrible choice for anyone to make, but we live in a world where things are not "neat," nor are there necessarily "good" outcomes. Sometimes all the options are "bad." In such a case, what would be the least damaging outcome?