Mexico City, Mexico - Roman Catholic, evangelical, orthodox and Anglican church leaders said Wednesday they have formed a united front against bills to legalize abortion in Mexico, an issue that has divided the nation and drawn in conservative President Felipe Calderon.
In a news conference, the church leaders said they will call on their followers to march against the proposals that would legalize abortions in the first three months of pregnancy.
The abortion bills have been filed by lawmakers from the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, in both the national Senate and Mexico City legislature.
"In the name of Jesus Christ and his Gospel, we ask, we implore they do not approve an unjust and bloody law that kills the innocent," said Rev. Hugo Valdemar, spokesman for the Catholic Archdioceses of Mexico City.
Catholic church officials have previously said they will excommunicate lawmakers who vote in favor of the bills.
Rev. Eduardo Rangel, an evangelical minister in Mexico City, added that "abortion is disobedience and betrayal of the word of God."
While about 90 percent of Mexico's total population of 104 million are Roman Catholic, there are more than 4 million evangelicals and the number grows annually.
Current Mexican law permits abortions only if the pregnancy endangers a woman's life or if the woman has been raped.
But advocates of the bills say this does not stop wealthier Mexican women traveling to the United States for the procedures while thousands of poor women remain in Mexico and have back-street operations. The law would allow abortions to be carried out under safer conditions, they argue.
"We need to stop thousands of women from dying in unsafe operations," said Sen. Carlos Navarrete, who heads the PRD in the Senate. "This is a right our laws should guarantee."
The church's position comes in spite of a constitutional ban on political activity by religious groups. It is also being supported by the Vatican, which is sending its chief anti-abortion campaigner, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, to inaugurate an international conference in Mexico City on Friday
Calderon, of the conservative National Action Party, has also spoken against the measure.
"I have a personal conviction, and I am in defense of life," he told a Tuesday news conference. "I have a plain respect for dignity and human life and, within this, I believe the existing legislation is adequate."