A coalition of Non Governmental Organisations under the auspices of Foundation For African Cultural Heritage (FACH) has said that the Federal Ministry of Health has no right to legalise abortion in Nigeria.
It added that the National Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy and National Guideline on Self-Care For Sexual Reproductive and Maternal Health 2020 issued by the Federal Ministry of Health, legalizing abortion and sterilization in Nigeria are unconstitutional and illegal.
The foundation in a statement jointly signed by Mrs. Haleemah Alli-Bankole for Advocacy for Moral Sex Education (AMOSED); Aham Njoku Director, Constitutional Watch (CONWATCH); and Mr. Yusuf Ayuba Director, Ayubson Life Foundation, among others maintained that abortion is murder.
It said: “If the U.S Supreme Court has upturned Roe V Wade that hitherto legalised abortion in the U.S, the Tinubu government cannot be seen to be legalizing abortion in Nigeria.
“More importantly, the abortion issue is a very sensitive religious and moral issue. It is also a very divisive issue capable of destroying the trust and loyalty which the people of Nigeria have in the President Tinubu government.
“Abortion is murder. If the West is experiencing demographic disaster owing to diminishing human capital, how can Nigeria be legalizing the killing our babies?”
Citing several Sections of the constitution, the foundation insisted that abortion is completely illegal in Nigeria, without any exception under which abortion can be permitted.
It added: “The Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja has no right to legalize abortion in Nigeria. Consequently, the National Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy and National Guideline on Self-Care For Sexual Reproductive and Maternal Health 2020 issued by the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja legalizing abortion and sterilization in Nigeria are unconstitutional and illegal.”
The foundation also kicked against the Bill before the National Assembly that seeks to regulate surrogacy in the country.
It lamented that surrogacy seeks to legitimize the manipulation and renting of women’s wombs, as well as the manipulation of embryos and zygotes — the import and export of human embryos, and the splitting and harvesting of human eggs and sperm.
It said: “Surrogacy — renting a girls’ womb to bear children-thrives in Nigeria. It is the exploitation and objectification of women and girls’ bodies with the commercialization of childbirth. This practice diminishes the humanity of the women and girls who bear the child.
“Establishing and preserving identity of products of surrogacy can be difficult or impossible for children born through surrogacy. Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (Nigerian has ratified and domesticated this Convention) protect a child’s right to be registered at birth and to preserve their identity, but surrogacy can negatively impact these rights.”