Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 28, 2020 / 03:58 pm (CNA).- The Catholic bishops of Mexico have spoken out strongly against any effort to justify abortion ahead of a Supreme Court ruling that could affect the legalization of abortion throughout the country.

“We affirm, in accordance with scientific evidence, that human life begins from the moment of conception,” said Bishop José Jesús Herrera Quiñones of Nuevo Casas Grandes in Chihuahua state.

Abortion does not help women, said Herrera, who heads the pro-life committee of the Mexican bishops’ conference, in a July 24 press release.

“Human dignity must be recognized and cared for,” he said, stressing that women in crisis pregnancies should be offered material, physical and psychological support rather than abortion.

The Mexican Supreme Court’s first bench is expected to issue a decision July 29 on a case from the state of Veracruz, where a lower court instructed lawmakers to enact legislation allowing for abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

If the majority of the five-judge bench upholds the lower court decision, Veracruz would be the third jurisdiction in Mexico to legalize abortion, following Mexico City and Oaxaca state.

Bishop Herrera said the ruling “could have a direct impact on the legal protection of the fundamental human right to life, specifically in its early stages.”

He cautioned that while the immediate effects of the ruling would be felt in Veracruz, it could ultimately lead to changes in the whole country.

Government is responsible for protecting human life, Herrera said. He asked Catholics and all citizens to work “to ensure that the dignity of each human being is valued and to come out and address the serious challenges that are presented to us at this time in the history of our country.”

Rodrigo Iván Cortés, president of the National Front for the Family, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, that the constitution of Verzcruz includes a clause protecting human life “from the moment of conception to natural death.”

Cortés said approving abortion in Veracruz would be “an attack against the fundamental right to life, the basis of all other rights.”

“It would be a crushing blow to the rule of law and democratic institutions in Mexico," he warned.

“The separation of powers in Mexico would be violated, state sovereignty would be violated, it would be an invasion against the state’s legislative powers.”

Such a ruling, Cortés told ACI Prensa, would prompt a “domino effect,” with abortion advocates filing appeals in other states as tools to spread the legalization of abortion.

In an effort to witness to the dignity of human life, Cortés said that a rally in defense of the unborn will be held July 28 in Constitution Plaza in Mexico City.

In addition, a CitizenGo petition entitled “You’re judges, not legislators” has gathered over 140,000 signatures urging the court to reject the legalization of abortion.