Catholic Church Alleges Fresh Plot to Legalise Abortion

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Catholic Church in Nigeria has raised the  alarm over alleged plan by the federal government to review some sections of the Criminal Code 1090 on abortion to see to its decriminalisation. 

It quoted an official of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of revealing the plan of government during a recent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) summit 1.0 organised by the Media Health & Rights (MHR) Initiative of Nigeria to mark this year’s World Contraception Day in Abuja.

In a statement signed by the Secretary General of the Catholic Secretary of Nigeria (CSN), Very Rev. Fr. Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi, the church cited a media report which quoted an official of the government as saying that the government is working towards expanding access to safe termination of pregnancies in the country. 

Samjumi said the statement by the official from Health Promotion Department of the Federal Ministry of Health seemed to confirm,  “the fears of a potential assault on our extant values, beliefs and cultural norms regarding shared values as a people.”

He said the  federal government’s move also seemed to have  substantiated the fears already created by various preceding moves to enshrine post-modern secularistic ideologies that significantly undermine the cultural, moral, and religious beliefs of Nigerian citizens. 

“Not long ago, the Government surreptitiously signed the SAMOA Agreement; some of its provisions implicated the LGBTQ provisions. 

“Again, the so-called Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE) already in practice pushes forward the sexualisation of Nigerian school pupils through corrupted school curricula, including teaching school pupils how to carry out abortion, masturbation, breast enlargement, and touching of their genitals. Not unconnected is the Bill at the National Assembly to regulate Surrogacy in Nigeria.

“This development seriously threatens the value and dignity of the human person. 

“It is saddening to know that it is the government that is so oblivious of the Constitutions of the country it solemnly swore to protect because, for the foregoing, the decisions by the government contravene the provisions of the constitutions, which prescribe absolute protection and respect of human life and its inherent dignity,” said Samjumi. 

While citing section 33 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the Church said that the law guaranteed the right to life, stating that “every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria.” 

“Chapter IV of the same Constitution outlines fundamental human rights, including the right to life, dignity, and freedom from discrimination, emphasising the importance of protecting human life and dignity. How could a government do that to its people?,” he said.

The Catholic Church said that government has a duty to uphold the constitution and not to deliberately contravene it.

The statement also said that Catholic Church in Nigeria, through the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), has consistently advocated  the protection of human life through its communiqués, teachings, and ecclesiastical documents. 

It said that the Church maintained that any law that fails to respect the right to life and human dignity contradicts natural and divine laws.

“Therefore, the Church proposes that rather than expanding access to safe termination of pregnancy by destroying life, the government should amplify its efforts towards educating the people on the imperatives of the values and dignity of the human person. 

“Rather than enthrone the culture of death through the legalisation of abortion, the government should place a premium on the sacred dignity and love that should be accorded to the human person, which is guaranteed by natural law and divine commandments and affirmed in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”