MADRID (LifeSiteNews) — The president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference has called out the “tragedy of 73 million abortions” carried out every year worldwide.

In his address at the 128th Plenary Assembly of the Spanish bishops in Madrid, Luis Javier Argüello García, Archbishop of Valladolid, spoke about how abortion is being swept under the rug by secular society, and pro-lifers are being marginalized.

“Anyone who publicly declares that abortion is objectively immoral because it ends the life of a human being other than the parents risks harsh personal, social, and political condemnation: ‘Questioning this achievement? Doubting this right? That is the height of fascist and authoritarian thinking and deserves to be immediately labeled as right-wing extremism,’” Argüello said.

“Providing information to pregnant women is considered abuse, and praying outside an abortion clinic is considered a threat.” “Why this refusal to think rationally and let science – DNA, genomics, ultrasound, etc. – speak, inform, and allow us to recognize the truth?” he asked.

The archbishop said that a human being is “a living organism of the species Homo Sapiens.”

“According to this definition, the fact that a fetus or embryo is a human being is simply a biological fact,” he noted. “A glance at any textbook on medical embryology is enough to see that scientists unanimously confirm that from the moment of fertilization, a living and independent human organism with its own genetic heritage is created in the mother’s body.”

“There is no need to consult the Bible for this, although it teaches us that its dignity is sacred and that it is endowed with an immortal soul,” the prelate added.

“Western society has completely suppressed the issue of abortion,” Argüello stated. “The tragedy of 73 million abortions worldwide each year, 100,000 of them in Spain, has become normal. We have reached a point of extreme irrationality in bioethics, which is at the service of biopolitics.”

READ: Spanish bishop laments widespread loss of Catholic faith in his country

“In the same hospital, one group of doctors may be determined to save a five-and-a-half-month-old fetus, while another group in the next room deliberately kills a baby of the same age,” he said, pointing out the hypocrisy and incoherence of the pro-abortion position.

“This is completely legal. Similarly, the law may punish the destruction of an eagle’s nest with a fine of 15,000 euros and up to two years in prison, but grants the right to kill a child with Down syndrome until the end of the pregnancy.”

“However, a Catholic perspective cannot be content merely to affirm the protection of unborn life and fight against abortion,” the archbishop stressed. “It must take into account the mother, the father, and the environmental, social, and economic circumstances that accompany pregnancy, birth, and the first years of life.”

Argüello emphasized the importance of supporting mothers in difficult situations before and after birth, a task many pro-life organizations and individuals routinely take up.

“I would like to express my solidarity with all pregnant women and encourage them not to hesitate to seek help when faced with the stresses of a possibly unwanted pregnancy,” he stated. “The solution to a situation that is so often difficult to bear alone should not be the termination of unborn life. I reaffirm the commitment of the Church and so many reasonable women and men of good will to help in this situation.”

“The supposed solution to problems that require family- and life-friendly policies is a symptom of the moral weakening of our democracy,” he concluded.