SW News: A Mass will be offered for babies lost in miscarriage or as newborns on the feast of All Saints on November 1 in Ecuador.
The Archdiocese of Guayaquil announced that those who will attend will be able to pre-register online with “their intentions for the soul of their baby.”
The registration link also includes intentions for the health of a baby in utero.
A note sent to news agency ACI Prensa stated that as part of the celebration, the remains of children who recently died “for various reasons in the prenatal and neonatal stages will also be buried, giving their families a place for the mourning, recollection, and consolation they need,” honoring the “human dignity of the little one.”
The Mass will be at 11 am in the Metropolitan Pantheon in coordination with the Guayaquil Benevolent Board. The grotto of the Virgin of the unborn and to be born will be dedicated and donated by Guayaquil artists Jorge Velarde and Paola Cesa on this occasion.
In Ecuador, abortion is only permitted to save the woman's life or health and in case of rape. In 2021, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador ruled for the decriminalization of abortion in all cases of rape. The Ministry of Public Health provides guidelines on therapeutic abortion.
Abortion in Ecuador is illegal barring a few exceptions. There is strong political opposition to abortion in Ecuador. In 2013, then-president Rafael Correa threatened to resign if the abortion law was liberalized. As of 2015, nearly 100 criminal cases of illegal abortion were under investigation. In 2015, Ecuador was urged by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape and incest. Women over 18 will be able to abort pregnancies arising from rape until 12 weeks gestation, while teens and girls under 18 will have until 18 weeks gestation. Adult women belonging to indigenous groups or who live in rural areas will also have until 18 weeks gestation to get an abortion.