Brazilian president makes prochoice comments on eve of Pope's visit.

ON THE EVE OF THE FIRST visit to Brazil by Pope Benedict XVI President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva went on several Catholic-sponsored radio stations to argue that "the state needs to treat [abortion] as question of public health."

Abortion is illegal in Brazil, and some estimates suggest that there are more than 1 million illegal abortions each year. Recent estimates also indicate that 1.2 million women have been hospitalized in the past five years due to complications following illegal abortions. "If we had a good process of family planning and sex education, possibly we would not have the number of unwanted pregnancies that we have today," Lula said.

In related news, controversial comments that the pope made en route to Brazil were initially tempered by a spokesman and then miraculously expunged from the official record the next day.

When asked about a recent vote in favor of abortion by the Mexico City legislature, the pope seemed to rubber-stamp the excommunication of Roman Catholic politicians who had voted in favor of the move.

His spokesman initially clarified these comments, suggesting instead that the politicians had in effect excommunicated themselves and could not receive Communion. However, the final transcript was altered to change the meaning completely, making it appear as if the comments were more general and did not refer to any specific incidents.

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During the flight, Benedict was asked if he supported the excommunication of a number of Catholic politicians in Mexico who had voted in favor of changing the city laws to permit abortion. "Yes, this excommunication is not something arbitrary," he replied. The final transcript removed "Yes, this," so that the sentence began, "Excommunication is...."

The pope's initial comments would suggest a change in church law, which does not appear to support the position that Catholic politicians who vote in favor of prochoice legislation face a canonical punishment.

A poll by Rasmussen in the United States, where much of the controversy over denying communion to prochoice Catholic politicians has centered, found that only 23 percent of Catholics felt that it was an appropriate punishment. Fifty-three percent opposed the move.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the primate of England and Wales, warned bishops to stay away from politics. In an interview with Vatican Radio, he said, "I think it would not be right for bishops to say everyone that voted this way should be excommunicated, but I do think that Catholic politicians have a duty to examine their consciences, to be informed about their faith and to act on that conscience. How they do so is a decision for them to make but I think that bishops have got to be careful not to intrude too much into the political sphere."

A few days after the pope's visit, Lula announced a new plan to subsidize contraceptive pills sold at private drugstores. Brazil already distributes over 250 million free condoms annually and offers free oral contraception at government-run pharmacies. The new program will drastically reduce the price in the private pharmacies that many poor women still depend on. Anyone with a government-issued identification card will be able to buy a month's supply for 0.40 Brazilian reals ($0.20), compared with current prices of 5 reals ($2.56) to 50 reals ($25.60). Lula promoted the program as a means for giving poor women "the same right that wealthy women have to plan the number of children they want." It was introduced as part of a broader government effort to reduce the number of maternal and newborn child deaths.