Catholic Church took, distributed babies
A BBC 2 TV documentary unveils that up to 300,000 Spanish newborns were taken from their parents by the Catholic Church. The original mothers and fathers were told that their child had perished, according to a recent BBC 2 Television documentary titled “Spain's Taken Babies”. Article resource: Catholic Church stole Spanish babies, resold them
How it was discovered
In order to steal and sell babies, there were many doctors, nurses, priests and nuns that worked together from 1939 to 1975 under Spanish dictator general Fran-cisco Franco, as reported by the Daily Mail. Even though Franco passed away in 1975, Spain's Catholic Church maintained the baby-stealing practice into the early 1990s, according to reports.
Under Franco’s network, hundreds of households had their first-born chil-dren taken and were told these kids were dead. These households are asking for an exploration from the Spanish govern-ment now.
Considering single mothers not capable
Single mothers were targeted in the baby controver-sy more than anybody else. The BBC 2 documentary notes that the mothers were told that they could not see the body of their dead kid nor attend the burial service, ostensibly because they were filled with sin and didn't deserve such pleasantries.
In all of the graves that have been dug up of these chil-dren, the bones either belonged to an animal or an adult. Grieving parents were even shown a baby corpse that was kept in a freezer for showing parents by authorities sometimes.
There were several forged delivery certificates that had the adoptive parents’ names to them. The mothers and fathers weren’t always in on the secret. Several times, they thought that it was a legitimate adoption.
“The situation is incredibly sad for thousands of people,” said investigative journalist Katya Adler. “There are men and women across Spain whose lives have been turned upside-down. ... There are also mothers who have maintained for years that their babies did not die - and were labeled 'hysterical'.”
Several adoptions stolen
Of all adoptions between 1960 and 1989, 15 percent might have been some of the taken newborns in Spain. That is a massive number that experts expect. Spain's government started to regulate adoptions in 1987. Individual hospitals had previously been responsible. Once states of im-proprieties began to surface, DNA tests and the admissions of numerous nuns opened the door on what could prove to be one of Europe's more horrifying domestic controversies.
Concerning Sam Ramon clinic
In lleida, Spain, there is a San Ramon clinic. Evidence shows that the baby stealing operation hap-pened there. In the BBC 2 documentary, they talk about a woman named Inez Perez. The catholic priests told her to fake a pregnancy and she would be given a stolen baby in 1969.
“The priest gave me padding to wear on my stomach,” said Perez.
Taken children not uncommon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dy7SOwMeUw
Citations
BBC 2: “Spain's Stolen Babies” documentary: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016d7hz
Daily Mail: http://bit.ly/q4R3qP
Francisco Franco Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Franco
The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/27/spanish-babies-stolen-clinic/print
Towleroad: http://www.towleroad.com/2011/10/spanish-babies-draft.html