ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (LifeSiteNews) – Legal abortion in Ethiopia has led to the deaths of mothers as well as babies.
Ethiopian Medical Journal recently published a shocking analysis from Dr. Calum Miller pointing out that the legalizing of abortion in Ethiopia in 2005 did not result in a decrease, but rather an increase of maternal morbidity and mortality
Miller conducts extensive research in three African nations, with Ethiopia selected as a case study.
In a letter to the Ethiopian medical journal, Miller wrote, “Rather than being a silver bullet to reduce deaths from abortion, abortion legalization has resulted in a vast increase in the number of abortions, without any appreciable decrease in abortion mortality or maternal mortality. There is some evidence mortality, and certainly, morbidity, have even increased since legalization.
“Ethiopia’s progress in reducing maternal deaths has been considerably less than expected, especially with respect to abortion,” Miller continued.
“It is possible that, as in other countries, a disproportionate focus on family planning based on inflated claims of abortion mortality has diverted resources from emergency obstetric care and thereby failed to reduce maternal mortality more significantly.”
The Ethiopian Penal Law on Abortion, Art. 528, Section II, stipulates punishment for those who endanger the life of the unborn. However, revisions were undertaken in 20005 by the Ethiopian Ministry of Health to conform Ethiopia’s abortion legislation to the fifth Millennium Development Goals (MDG 5) of the World Health Organisation (WHO). This was out of step with dominant conservative public sentiment as well as the explicit anti-abortion position of the highly influential Orthodox Church in Ethiopia.
Cited in an essay published by St. Paul Hospital Millennium College in Addis Ababa, posted on 17 Jan 2022, a group of 12 leading Orthodox Christian and Muslims stated their support for the defense of the right to life. The Christians declared:
Man (person) is created in the image and likeness of God.
Human life begins from conception biologically and spiritually.
No one has the authority to take the life of an innocent (God’s creature).
Killing God`s gift that is innocent is morally unacceptable.
Therefore, abortion is wrong and condemned because it is a grave sin.
“The Orthodox Christian faith leaders follow a closed door policy on the matter of induced abortion,” wrote the essay’s author, Demelash Bezabih Ewnetu.