Catholic church opposes plan to legalise abortion

The Catholic Church in Nigeria has opposed the federal government’s reported plan to legalise abortion, saying this contravenes the sanctity of human life.

The Secretary General of the Catholic Secretary of Nigeria (CSN), Rev. Fr. Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi, said this in a statement in Abuja.

Daily Trust had reported that the Head of the Health Promotion Department at the Federal Ministry of Health, Barrister Nma Ogbonna, announced plan to legalise abortion during the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) summit organised by the Media Health and Rights (MHR) Initiative of Nigeria to mark this year’s World Contraception Day.

She said the ministry was working on reviewing some sections of the Criminal Code to decriminalise abortion.

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

He said the development threatens the value and dignity of the human person and that 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.

He said, “For example, section 33 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, guarantees 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.”