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African Health Ministers Meeting April 9 to Discuss Legalizing Abortion Throughout Africa

Final Maputo Protocol document not seen by participants and was "railroaded" through

By John-Henry Westen

JOHANNESBURG, April 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - African Health Ministers will meet on Easter Monday, April 9 to discuss a proposal to legalize abortion throughout Africa.   Last October, the various Health Ministers of Africa "approved" the Maputo Protocol. This protocol would have the effect of forcing all 53-member states of the African Union to legalize abortion continent-wide.

The South African pro-life group Christian Action has noted that "Documents such as these have been used to change national laws in many instances."  In January, Pope Benedict XVI noted the dangerous Maputo Protocol calling it "an attempt to trivialize abortion surreptitiously" in Africa.

The group told LifeSiteNews.com in a communiqué that "One strategy has been for the European Union to make aid money contingent upon adoption of the abortion Protocol." Another tactic successfully used in Columbia last year, says the group, saw several pro-abortion NGOs sue the government of Columbia for failing to comply with international law.

Christian Action says that the Maputo Protocol was never procedurally agreed upon at an African Union Health Ministerial, but rather at a Special Session that was not well attended by Health Ministers.  At the conclusion of the Special Session, reports the group, there was no agreement by participants on the final outcome of the document because it was not seen by the participants. "However, the Chair of the Session railroaded the document through."

At least 15 member countries must ratify the Maputo Protocol for it to be enforced. This issue will be the first item on the agenda for the upcoming meeting of Health Ministers in Johannesburg, at the Sandton Convention Centre from the 9-13 of April.

Strong sentiments against the Protocol have come from Nigerians and Ugandans. In a visit to Nigeria, American Congressman, Mr. Chris Smith, called on the African Union to provide health services for women rather than abortion.

Chairman of the Nigerian African Anti-Abortion Coalition, Dr Philip Njemanze, has accused some international organizations of contravening the Nigerian Constitution in seeking the legalisation of abortion. Both men spoke last weekend at a public awareness lecture organized by Pro-life groups at the Pan-African University in Lagos.

The Uganda Joint Christian Council has appealed to Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni and other political leaders to resist the move to legalise abortion.

"We request President Museveni and the delegation that will represent Uganda at the upcoming meeting of the African Union in Addis Abba to reject any policy that would expose Uganda in particular, and Africa as a whole, to mass murder through the legalisation of abortion," said Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) Deputy Secretary for Finance and Administration, Sylvester Arinaitwe.

While some abortion advocates claim illegal abortions are killing women in Africa, Smith said the real problem is lack of basic health care, doctors and medical facilities. Smith noted, "It is false to claim that abortion will be safe if it is legal. Abortion is never safe for the child and can harm the woman physically, emotionally and psychologically, whether legal or illegal."

Christian Action has asked pro-life supporters to contact African Health Ministers to encourage them to defend the right to life for unborn African children.

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