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"Abortion Is Wrong" says Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maathai

Suggests re-instating law making fathers financially responsible for children conceived

OSLO, December 7, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Kenyan Nobel peace prize winner, Mrs. Wangari Maathai, said "abortion is wrong," in a conversation with Norway's Dagen newspaper reporter Jostein Sandsmark Tuesday. Professor Maathai is Kenya's deputy minister of the environment.

"But I am trying to avoid condemning the victim," she said, referring to the pregnant mother who seeks an abortion. She sees both mother and child as casualties: "Both are victims. There is no reason why anybody who has been conceived, shouldn't be given the opportunity to be born and to live a happy life. The fact that a life like that is terminated, is wrong," said Maathai.

"When we allow abortion, we are punishing the women -- who must abort their children because their men have run away -- and we are punishing the children whose life is terminated," she continued. "But it is because we are not willing to put the men where they should be, and that is taking up the responsibility."

"I want us to step back a little bit and say: Why is this woman and this child threatened? Why is this woman threatening to terminate this life? What do we need to do as a society? What are we not doing right now as a society? A part of that answer lies in this House," Maathai said, pointing at the Kenyan Parliament building.

While abortion is still illegal in Kenya, Maathai suggests going further -- that the 1960s law making fathers financially responsible for any children they conceive be re-instated.

"That law was removed by men in this Parliament," she emphasized. "Now I think we are too lenient on men. We have almost given them a license to father children and not worry about them. That is part of the reason why women abort, because they do not want to be burdened with children whose fathers do not want to become responsible."

Maathai will be awarded the Nobel prize in Oslo Friday for her involvement in fighting for the environment, human rights and women's rights.

See link to the full interview with Mrs.Wangari Maathai (in Norwegian): http://www.dagen.no/show_art.cgi?art=6832

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