troung

Fetus dumped in Philippines presidential palace

Posted Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:26pm AEDT

Filipino officials have launched an inquiry after a human fetus was found inside a bathroom at the Philippines presidential palace in Manila.

A cleaner discovered the fetus wrapped in a plastic bag, said Brigadier General Romeo Prestoza, head of President Gloria Arroyo's security force.

He told reporters police were trying to identify the mother and determine whether the fetus was aborted intentionally or accidentally.

Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye noted abortion is a crime in the Philippines, one of few Roman Catholic countries where both abortion and divorce are against the law.

"We pray for the soul of this innocent child and hope that whoever was responsible for this, realises the gravity of this deed and seeks atonement," he said in a statement.

He said the Arroyo Government considers "every human life sacred".

Around half a million women terminate their pregnancies in the Philippines every year.

Influenced by powerful Catholic bishops, the government does not promote artificial contraception which has resulted in rising rates of abortion, usually carried out in backstreet clinics using unsafe methods.

- AFP/Reuters

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