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Ann Kioko is being targeted by Marie Stopes Africa for opposing abortion in Kenya.YouTube

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NAIROBI, Kenya, March 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — An international abortion giant is trying to stop a Kenyan Christian from ever mentioning them again. 

Marie Stopes Kenya, an affiliate of British-founded Marie Stopes Intenational, has applied to a Kenyan court to stop Ann Kioko, a campaigner for CitizenGO Africa, from mentioning their abortion business in public or to the media ever again. 

“I just think they are using judicial activism to further their abortion business in Kenya while stifling freedom of speech of those who believe that they should not even be in Kenya,” Kioko told LifeSiteNews today by email.  

“It is unacceptable and it is time Africa stood firm against these cultural imperialists.”

Kioko first attracted the ire of the infamous organization in 2018 when she called it out for advertising abortion in the Kenyan media. 

“Abortion being illegal in the country, the advertisements were not only against the Kenyan legal provisions but also the culture,” Kioko said.

CitizenGO Africa confronted the issue by writing a petition to then-Minister for Health Sicily Kariuki, asking her to investigate and ban the Kenyan Marie Stopes clinics for their “illegal activities.” Kioko told LifeSiteNews that the petition attracted 5,000 signatures in 72 hours, illustrating the anger the abortion ads had inspired in the pro-life nation. 

As a result, the Minister of Health contacted Kioko and asked her to prepare evidence against Marie Stopes Kenya. Kariuki asked both the campaigner and representatives of Marie Stopes Kenya to appear before a hearing of 20 doctors called by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council. 

“It is after this hearing that the Kenyan government found MSK culpable and ordered them to suspend their services immediately until they made available their records to the medical board,” Kioko told LifeSiteNews.  

“This ban angered abortionists globally, and pressure was mounted on the Kenyan government to lift the ban,” she added. 
“Unfortunately, it succumbed to the pressure after one month and lifted the suspension.”

Such weakness did not go unpunished. According to Kioko, immediately afterward, Marie Stopes Kenya and other abortion lobbyists attempted to sue the Kenyan government for what they called an “illegal” suspension. They are also demanding from the courts that Kioko, who had given a number of interviews to the media, be permanently banned from mentioning Marie Stopes in public. A document from Marie Stopes Kenya’s suit, a photo of which LifeSiteNews obtained, also mentions the pro-life Pearls & Treasures Trust and the Kenyan Christian Professional Forum.  

In the suit, Dr. Hezron Mc’Obewa, the chairman of the board for Marie Stopes Kenya, argues that Kioko had no right to bring her case to the hearing of the Kenya medical board because she had done so on behalf of unborn children.

“Unborn children have no capacity to institute suit, and thus cannot factually instruct the 1st petitioner,” he wrote in his September 15, 2020 affidavit. 

Kenyan Christians have taken up the fight on Kioko’s behalf and have hit the court with a countersuit “demanding that Marie Stopes pays all post-abortive women who have lost babies in their clinics.”

The “case has been dragging,” however, as representatives of Marie Stopes have been not showing up at court hearings.

The next hearing will be in April. 

Caroline Farrow, the head of CitizenGO in the U.K. and Ireland, told LifeSiteNews that it is a “privilege” to work with Kioko. 

“Anyone who has the privilege of working with Ann will tell you how incredibly modest, humble and unassuming she is, yet at the same time she is a real powerhouse in the African pro-life movement,” commented Farrow. “It’s a testimony to how effective her tireless work to highlight the illegal practices at Marie Stopes has been that this organization feels compelled to silence her.”

“If they truly cared about women, then Marie Stopes would address the concerns that Ann raises about their illegal operations in Kenya and other countries instead of persecuting her. I am very proud to have this courageous and politically impactful woman as a friend and colleague.”