The battle for the pro-life cause in Greece

ATHENS, Greece (ABC News) - Greece's center-right government ordered the removal of anti-abortion posters put up Monday in Athens underground billboards under a paid public awareness campaign by a pro-life group.

A transport ministry statement said the posters, which carried the slogan “Choose life” under a picture of an unborn fetus, target women's “legally protected and indisputable right” to abortion.

Abortion ceased to be illegal in Greece in 1986 and is now common, although the precise numbers involved are unknown as official records are not kept.

Monday's ministry statement said campaigns in public areas “should not divide public opinion or, clearly, insult women who have been forced to make such a difficult choice.”

The ministry said it had instructed the Athens underground operating company to spare no effort to remove the posters as soon as possible.

While the debate on abortion has not been particularly acrimonious in Greece, the issue came to public attention in recent weeks after a sports daily covered its front page with a pro-life poster — triggering a flurry of reactions both positive and negative.

Last year, the country's powerful Orthodox Church declared the first Sunday after Christmas an official day for the protection of unborn children's lives.

And also...

(Orthodox Times) - The Standing Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, chaired by Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, met yesterday.

During the two-day sittings, the Holy Synod, taking into account the recent developments on abortion, “and based on the Bible and the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church of Christ, expresses its theological position on the fetus as a complete and integral human being since its conception and therefore, it considers voluntary abortion as a murder and does not accept it.”

Also, the Holy Synod, on the occasion of the decision of Minister of Education and Religious Affairs Niki Kerameus, regarding the cancellation of the public holiday in schools and the restoration of the celebration of the Holy Three Hierarchs, guardians of the Greek Letters and Education (January 30), to a day for attending mass and other topical events, has decided to send a congratulatory letter to her.

Furthermore, the Standing Holy Synod approved the new organization of the Central Financial Services (EKIO) of the Church of Greece.

It has also decided to issue a circular note on the submission of expenditure reports for charity ministry in 2019 of the Archdiocese of Athens and the Metropolises of the Church of Greece.