News

Friday July 23, 2010


Polls Show Kenyans Favoring Pro-Abortion Constitution; HLI Asks for Prayer

However, some suspect the legitimacy of the polls

By Kathleen Gilbert

NAIROBI, July 23, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two new polls gauging Kenyans’ feelings on the new pro-abortion constitution found most saying they would likely vote the new legislation into effect, reported the Associated Press Friday.

58 percent of 6,000 respondents to the larger poll said they would approve the draft constitution during the referendum, scheduled for August 4. 22 Percent indicated they would vote against it. A second poll of 1,200 Kenyans found that 65 percent supported the constitution, while 25 said they would vote no.

In the first poll, abortion was named as the top reason why opponents hoped to strike down the constitution, which would broaden abortion law in the country to allow the procedure in order to preserve the “health” of the mother.

However, some suspect the legitimacy of the polls, which have been decried as a move by the “Yes” campaign to garner more support for the measure in the weeks leading to a vote.

“We really haven’t had objective polls published,” said Rev. Peter Karanja, the secretary general of the National Council of Churches of Kenya. “Even some of the companies that conduct polls have more than a casual relationship with some of the key politicians who would want to manipulate opinions. We have been on the campaign trail all over Kenya … and our impressions do not appear to relate in any way with the kind of figures we see published.” The AP report noted that the author of the second poll, Infotrack, is believed to have ties with Kenyan left-wing Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Karanja also expressed concern that the referendum was rigged, which in turn could trigger violence.

The document garnered attention in America after three U.S. Congressmen blasted the Obama administration for spending a large sum of foreign funds in support of the pro-abortion constitution. The lawmakers say the expenditure of $23 million in favor of the “Yes” campaign for the new constitution violates federal law barring use of such funds to lobby for abortion abroad.

Earlier this month, President Mwai Kibaki anticipated victory for the new constitution and hailed its benefits for Kenya’s posterity, as reported by the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.

Pro-life leaders have launched a strong reaction against the new constitution: a petition drive launched by the World Congress of Families gathered more than 170 pro-life leaders from 21 countries who opposed the new constitution.

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, has called on pro-lifers around the world to pray for the rights of unborn children in Kenya to be defended and the constitution to meet defeat.

“HLI’s campaign will consist of one and only one thing: PRAY before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament for this intention. Daily Mass if possible, Eucharistic Adoration, Sunday Mass and other Eucharistic devotions: all of these intentions will storm heaven for the babies of Kenya,” wrote Euteneuer.