Catholic News 2

Washington D.C., May 6, 2016 / 03:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A coalition of scientists and faith leaders has called on President Barack Obama to take “meaningful” steps to reduce the threat of “nuclear catastrophe” in light of his likely upcoming trip to Japan.

“Nuclear weapons remain a real and urgent threat to humanity and our planet. If there is even a limited nuclear exchange, millions – if not billions – of people could perish; large swaths of the planet could be contaminated; and the global economy could collapse,” a May 4 letter stated.

The statement was released by Bishop Oscar Cantú, chairman of the U.S. Bishops' committee on International Justice and Peace; Ken Kimmell, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists; Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; and Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.

The group cited President Obama’s 2009 Prague address, during which he said the United States had a responsibility to lead the world in reducing nuclear arms.

Now is the time, they urged, for Obama “to take meaningful, practical nuclear risk-reduction steps” during his expected visit to Hiroshima for the G7 summit later this month.

“Heightened tensions between the United States and Russia, and the growing risk of nuclear use worldwide, are all the more reason for the president to take these meaningful steps to strengthen national and international security,” the letter said.

Instead of adding to the number of nuclear weapons in the world, the group suggested that Obama end his proposal to spend upwards of $1 trillion on modernizing the U.S.’s nuclear weapons arsenal over the next several years.

Such a proposal is “inconsistent with the vision the president outlined in the Prague speech” and could “lead to a dangerous and costly arms race,” they said.

“Spending money we don't have on weapons we don't need won't make us safer.”

Rather, they suggested that the U.S. reduce its nuclear weapons store by a third – a level that the Pentagon “agrees is adequate to maintain security.”

Russia and the U.S. should also take the hundreds of nuclear weapons they have ready for action off of “hair-trigger” status, a practice that “makes the risk of an accidental, mistaken or unauthorized launch unacceptably high.”

“Faith and science leaders understand human frailty,” they stated. “Over the last several decades, there have been numerous near misses when human or technical errors – combined with a short amount of time in which to respond – increased the risk of a nuclear catastrophe.”

In their view, carrying out these steps would help the U.S. fulfill its obligations to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted by the National Security Council in September 2009.

“As faith and science leaders, we stand ready to support these steps toward a safer world. We call on all Americans to join us,” they said.

Throughout the world, nine countries – Pakistan, India, Israel, North Korea, China, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Russia – are known or suspected to have nuclear weapons, while 30 others have the technology to acquire them quickly, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.


Photo credit: Romanova Natali via www.shutterstock.com.

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Madrid, Spain, May 6, 2016 / 12:33 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Feminist Party of Spain has filed a complaint in court over an upcoming surrogate motherhood “fair” as constituting an illegal practice in the country by promoting human trafficking.

The Surrofair will take place in Madrid May 7-8. The fair will provide information and the different ways to contract with a surrogate mother.

Organized by Babygest, “the leading magazine on surrogate pregnancy,” the event will have various presentations and information on the legal aspects of this practice, especially in Russia, Greece and Ukraine, in which it is legal under certain conditions.

The Feminist Party has condemned the fair, which it considers to be promoting human trafficking.

“The state of necessity of women who turn to renting their womb, for a price, is not unlike sexual exploitation,” the party said in its complaint.

Marta Nogueroles, a professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid, agrees.

According to the daily El Mundo, she said that hiring a surrogate mother is not much different than prostitution because “it's trading in human beings, they're selling children.”

Nogueroles, who has ties to the Feminist Party, maintained that this practice “takes advantage of the precarious situation these women are in” to produce a child that later they will have to give up.

She also noted that in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, “in none of its 30 points is the right to have children found” and encouraged “if nature has not given you the means, you can adopt.”

There are currently some 17,000 children in Spanish orphanages because they do not have a family. More than 30,000 families have been approved as adoptive parents and are waiting to adopt a child. However, adoption proceedings have been halted due to the current political situation in Spain, where a government has still not been formed following the Dec. 20 elections.

Additionally, accredited international adoption agencies report that there is no authority that specifically deals with adoption proceedings.

This situation will likely continue until a government in constituted in Spain, which is unlikely to happen before September. 

Surrogacy has increasingly raised eyebrows amid complaints that it preys on vulnerable women. Last year, India announced that it wanted to end its practice of allowing foreigners to contract surrogate pregnancies.

Criticism of the surrogacy industry includes charges of a lack of transparency, with many of the participating women being poor and illiterate, often not understanding the contract they are signing.

Other complications arising from surrogacy include forced abortions and increased health risks for the child as well as the surrogate mother.

 

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