Mar 27, 2009, 11:41 GMT
Madrid - A controversy surrounding the planned liberalization of abortion heated up in Spain on Friday as scientists disagreed over whether scientific arguments could be used for or against the termination of pregnancy.
A group of top scientists signed a counter-manifesto in response to an anti-abortion declaration which has been signed by some 2,000 scientists and other professionals since last week, the daily El Pais reported.
Science showed that human life began at the moment of conception, the pro-life intellectuals argued.
'The moment at which a being can be considered human cannot be established with scientific criteria,' the other group countered, criticizing what it described as the increasing use of science to defend religious or ideological beliefs.
The daily El Mundo meanwhile published an interview Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life at the Vatican, who urged Spanish bishops to join an anti-abortion rally planned for Sunday.
Spanish bishops have announced a 'massive' campaign against plans by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's socialist government to liberalize the 1985 abortion law.
More than 100,000 pregnancies are already terminated annually in Spain, but the new law will free women from having to give reasons for the procedure in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
The socialists on Thursday criticized a northern Catholic school which had shown pupils images of remains of aborted foetuses alongside pictures of Zapatero.
The main opposition People's Party (PP) refrained from allying too closely with pro-life groups, with none of its leaders expected to join Sunday's rally.
Groups organizing Easter processions were also divided over whether participants should wear white ribbons as a pro-life protest.
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