AFRICA/NIGERIA - “Legalizing abortion goes against the right to life enshrined in the Constitution”

Abuja (Agenzia Fides) – “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,” says Father Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi, Secretary General of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), the central body of the Episcopal Conference of Nigeria.
The intervention of Fr. Samjumi was necessary after the Department for Health Promotion of the Federal Ministry of Health undertook a review of the Penal Code to decriminalize abortion.
In his statement, the Secretary General of the CSN recalls that the legalization of abortion contradicts the Nigerian Constitution, which guarantees the right to life. Article 33 of the 1999 Constitution states that “every person has a right to life, and no one shall be de- prived intentionally of his life”.
Fr Samjumi says that rather than promoting abortion, the government should focus on educating citizens on reproductive health and the dignity of human life. "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," says the CSN Secretary General.
"The Catholic Church and all ethically-minded people oppose all forms of abortion procedures whose direct purpose is to terminate the life of a baby in the womb. The unborn child has the right to live and be protected and not to be killed by the fiat of an unjust law. We believe strongly that every human life must be respected and protected, especially the most vulnerable ones in the womb from the moment of their conception". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 25/10/2024)

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