MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY, December 14 (CNA) .- The bishops of Uruguay have voiced support for a married couple who testified that the country is under pressure from international organizations to legalize abortion.

The couple's testimony was criticized by the country's media outlets.

In its bi-monthly bulletin, the Archdiocese of Montevideo published the entire testimony given by Victor Guerrero and Gabriela Lopez of the bishops' Committee on Family and Human Life "so that our readers can draw their own conclusions."

The bulletin, distributed in all the parishes of Montevideo, reaffirmed the Church's position on a proposal that would legalize abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

Guerreo and Lopez gave their testimony on Nov. 29 and denounced the measure as a ploy by international organizations to pressure Uruguay to accept abortion. "Unfortunately these kinds of measures do not stem from the initiative of local legislators but rather from strategies internationally promoted by institutions that seek to deceive the people and their legislators," they said.

"Behind this pressure are international foundations like the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and many others ... that see world population growth as a security issue," Lopez said.

The bishops of Uruguay were dissatisfied by the media coverage of the couple's testimony and therefore decided to publish their remarks in their entirety.

Senator Monica Xavier, who sponsored the bill together with Congressman Alvaro Vega, called the couple's testimony "completely out of place" and said that while some organizations might consider abortion to be a "sin," the State cannot classify it is a "crime."

Vega said their testimony did not deserve a response because the Church "is outside the world."

"The Church is not happy about this because not only do abortions have to be outlawed but in vitro fertilization as well. You can't use condoms, pills, and so on," he said.

In addition to the Archdiocese of Montevideo's bulletin, the Bishops' Conference of Uruguay issued a letter on Dec. 5 to the president of the Senate Committee on Health Care saying, "The position of the entire body of bishops that make up the Episcopal Conference of Uruguay is in tune with the magisterium of the Catholic Church throughout the world."

The president of the Population Research Institute's office for Latin America, Carlos Polo, told CNA on Dec. 13, "I praise the Uruguayan bishops for their courage. The promoters of the culture of death believed that the Church in Uruguay was weak and was not going to resist the abortion measure."

"I think that the abortion supporters of the ruling party proposing this anti-life measure are in for a huge surprise. I am sure that Uruguay will have great news for all of us who defend life in Latin America," Polo said.