Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Maputo (Agenzia Fides) - Six million abortions in 2011; wide spread of practices such as sterilization of women; systematic use of contraception and birth control methods, which promote a program of radical transformation of African societies, directing them towards the destructive ideologies of human life: is the damage and injuries caused by the "Maputo Protocol", approved in July 2003 by the Assembly of the African Union in Maputo, in Mozambique. This is what Fr. Shenan J. Boquet, President of the NGO "Human Life International" (HLI), working all over the world in defense of unborn life says in a note sent to Fides Agency. "This is an anniversary to be remembered but not to celebrated," says the president of HLI. The document entitled, "Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa", "set into motion an agenda that has radically impacted the African continent, and has emboldened population control groups throughout Africa ", notes Fr. Boquet. "Proponents of the Maputo Protocol want us to believe that the primary focus of their document is female genital mutilation (FGM), a heinous crime affecting nearly two million African women annually," he explains. However, FGM is mentioned only once in the document, which focuses mainly on issues such as the legalization of abortion, contraception and sterilization. "The document - continues - promotes a change of the traditional family asking for the elimination of discrimination against women, which is always unjust and immoral. However, the use of this term within the Protocol is aimed at promoting the free exercise of sexual rights of women, i.e. freedom to seek an abortion, contraception and sterilization. " The Protocol asks the free use and distribution of abortifacients and underlines that African states must provide "new educational methods to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of women and men." "This is a radical attempt to reshape and refocus the minds and lives of millions of people, with a propaganda of death that destroys the very foundation of a society and brings into question its future existence," writes Fr. Boquet. "Such policies result in the breakdown of the family, illegitimacy, growth in the number of orphans, fatherless families and promiscuity. The contraceptive mentality and legalized abortion endorsed by the Maputo Protocol, will not lead to fewer abortions, as its supporters would have us believe, but many more abortions," warns the president of HLI. In fact, according to the same organizations that promote population control such as "Planned Parenthood", the number of abortions actually grew in Africa between 2003 and 2008.
HLI, which operates in several African countries, will continue to defend life and to spread a "culture of respect for life, according to Christian values," he concludes. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 07/07/2012)
