Daniele da Silva, who is seven months pregnant, poses for a photo as she sits inside her home in a slum of Recife, Brazil, Friday, Feb. 5, 2016. Da Silva said she had Chikungunya a couple of months ago and her ultrasound scan and other exams of her baby are normal. Like Chikungunya, mosquitos are a vector for the Zika virus, which is suspected to be linked with occurrences of microcephaly in new born babies, but no link has been proven yet. AP Photo
BRAS脥LIA, Brazil鈥擳he Catholic Church in Brazil on Wednesday rejected calls supported by the United Nations to allow abortion in cases of the birth defect microcephaly.
Abortion is restricted in Latin America鈥檚 biggest country to cases of rape, where the fetus has no brain, or where the mother鈥檚 life is in danger.
The UN human rights office has called on countries where the Zika virus is thought to be linked to a rash of microcephaly cases to relax laws and allow pregnant women with Zika to terminate.
READ: What to know about the tropical Zika virus in Latin America
But Auxiliary Bishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, secretary general of the Brazilian Bishops鈥� Conference, rejected the argument.
鈥淢icrocephaly has been occurring in Brazil for years. They are taking advantage of this moment to reintroduce the abortion topic,鈥� he was quoted as saying in the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper.
鈥淎bortion leads to eugenics, the practice of selecting perfect people,鈥� he said.
Brazil has registered 404 confirmed cases of microcephaly, where the baby is born with an abnormally small head and brain, since October last year. Another 3,670 cases are not yet confirmed.
READ: Birth defects in Latin America spark Zika virus panic
Scientists say that the Zika virus, carried by mosquitoes, appears to cause the condition in fetuses born to mothers who have been infected.
In Brazil, a group of activists is petitioning the Supreme Court for a change in the country鈥檚 restrictive abortion laws.
However, Brasilia鈥檚 archbishop, Sergio da Rocha, said society should 鈥渧alue life in whatever state it鈥檚 in.鈥�
鈥淟ess quality of life doesn鈥檛 mean less right to live,鈥� he said in the capital.
An estimated million illegal abortions are carried out each year in Brazil.