It appears to be the solution. Of course, it is instead just another expression of the impoverishment of the poor. One other element in this sad reality is the infant mortality rate. Unknown numbers of infants die from preventable illnesses such as diarrhea, colds, and flu. The poor suffer a deep and horrible violence against life.
Abortion is only a symptom.
Of course each person is responsible for his or her behavior and choices. At the same time each action and choice takes place within specific circumstances. The shame in various parts of Latin America is that after five hundred years of Christianity, we are a people who have yet to embrace the essential gospel message of life and liberation offered exclusively by Christ. Prostitution, abortion, alcoholism, family break-ups, infant mortality, and teenage gangs are not only symptoms of a society seeking that liberation from misery which only Christ offers, but they are also symptoms of social conditions so oppressive that they are in themselves evil. Our belief in Christ and the Church, our understanding of life and human dignity, is incomplete unless we carry them to their next logical progression.