Our prayer is that it will serve as a tool to share the mission of Human Life International Kenya, namely to protect, defend and promote human life from the moment of conception until natural death through prayer, guidance, counselling and education.
Human Life International (HLI) Kenya led several student organizations in a peaceful protest last week of a conference convened in Kenya to develop strategies on implementing stealth abortion-legalizing provisions from Kenya’s year-old revised constitution.
“Senior Kenyan politicians promised the people of Kenya that Articles 26(4) and 43(1)(a) [the controversial portions of the new constitution] would never be interpreted in a manner that legalizes abortion on demand in this country,” according to HLI Kenya director Father Raphael Wanjohi. “They also argued, in the pre-referendum days, that legalizing abortion was not one of the purposes of the new constitution.”
“Now they are doing exactly what they promised they would not do, and they expect us to simply remain quiet,” said Father Wanjohi.
Students from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology; Kenyatta University; and University of Nairobi were among the hundreds of demonstrators against the conference which took place on September 15.
Despite provisions in the constitution stating that, “Every person has the right to life,” [26(1)] and, “The life of a person begins at conception,” [26(2)], Article 26(4) of the Constitution permits abortion “if in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other written law.” And Article 43(1)(a) states that, “Every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to health care services, including reproductive health care.”
The second annual “State of Maternal Mortality in Kenya” conference was sponsored by the Kenya Medical Association (KMA), and featured several speakers known for advocating wider access to abortion and other ‘reproductive health’ services.
In the keynote address, former British and Scottish Parliament leader Lord David Steel of Aikwood told the conference members, “I count it a great honour to have been invited to address this important conference as a major contribution to implementing the new constitution of Kenya.” Steel was extremely influential in the fight to legalize abortion in England in the late 1960s.
“The background to this event is the important change in your new constitution which decriminalizes medical abortion in this country for the first time,” said Steel.
Father Wanjohi sat down for a video interview at HLI’s international headquarters in Virginia last month on the one-year anniversary of the referendum in which he said, “One can say, okay, formally [abortion] is not legalized, but when you look at the constitution itself, it is legalized. It is legal. Because a woman can just go and say, ‘I don’t want … this baby because it’s affecting my health.’”
Father Wanjohi’s assertion that conference organizers wanted to bring abortion-legalizing provisions of the new constitution into practice, despite repeated claims to the contrary by political leaders, is supported by the published “expected conference outcomes,” which were clearly stated on the web site for the conference:
To have participants competent in the reproductive health related provisions of the Constitution
To develop recommendations on the legal and policy imperatives necessary in the implementation of the reproductive health provisions in the Constitution
Gain an understanding on how the public health care system is affected by maternal deaths and unsafe abortions
Understand how the Kenyan law on abortion relates to international treaties and conventions
Father Wanjohi pointed out that the supposed desire to eliminate “unsafe abortions” is really a desire to make abortion not only legal, but completely unrestricted and free of charge, based on the assumption that legalized abortion improves maternal health.
“The assertion that making abortion widely available and legal lowers maternal mortality is demonstrably false,” said Father Wanjohi. “Noting the choice, caliber, ideology and inclination of the speakers, the sole purpose of the conference is to make operational the abortion provisions of the constitution.”
“The same forces that wanted the constitution passed not for the good provisions therein, but for the abortion-enabling loopholes, are responsible for convening this conference,” Father Wanjohi said.
Pope to World Youth: "Do Not Be Content With Anything Less Than Christ" Madrid 2011
FROM HUMAN LIFE INTERNATIONAL
Dollars and Deception in Kenya
(This week's column is written by Joseph Meaney, HLI's director of international coordination.)
The national referendum on Kenya's new pro-abortion constitution is official with 67% of the voters casting their ballots for it. The previous Kenyan Constitution proclaimed that human life begins at conception, and that all human life was worthy of being defended.
In fact, the wording of the new constitution retains part of this strong pro-life language: "Every person has the right to life. The life of a person begins at conception." Yet in another demonstration of the deception employed regularly by pro-abortion elites, an unelected international committee of "experts" added the following in Article 26: "Abortion is not permitted unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted by any other law."
That's right. Abortion is now constitutionally legal whenever the pregnancy may affect the health of the mother, whenever any "health professional" deems it necessary, or whenever any law at all says it is legal. This language in the new constitution essentially opens up the floodgates on abortion for this pro-life country.
How did this happen? A large part of the blame can be placed upon the Obama administration, which spent over $23 million of US tax payer money to promote passage of the new constitution. Pro-life Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and others have forced an investigation by the office of the Inspector General, revealing the expenditures, which, despite the administration's denials can be traced easily to openly pro-abortion organizations who were charged with getting out the vote in support of the referendum.
But here's the catch: Spending government funds to lobby for or against abortion in foreign countries is illegal through a law known as the Siljander Amendment, and they've been caught red-handed. Not that they appear to have any respect for law, or any policy they haven't created themselves. The Obama/Clinton pro-abortion foreign policy of the US government may become this administrations' "Watergate" or "Iran-Contra," but in the meantime Kenya bore the brunt of a propaganda campaign funded with millions of US tax dollars.
The vast majority of Kenyans declare that they are opposed to the legalization of abortion, but similarly high numbers voted for the new constitution. A big reason for this was the flagrantly dishonest public denials by Kenya's political leaders that abortion would be legalized by the new constitution.
Kenya's Catholic bishops and other Christian leaders spoke out forcefully against the new constitution as did pro-life groups, but they did not have the enormous access to the means of mass communication that the "Yes" campaign enjoyed.
Tribal and religious politics also played a big role in the outcome. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki is from the most numerous tribe in the country, the Kikuyus. Since he endorsed the constitution, many from his ethnic group took their lead from his stance. Muslims were given an incentive to vote for the constitution in the form of "kadhi," or Islamic, courts, which rule on the basis of Sharia Law in marriage, divorce and inheritance cases.
One cannot miss the irony that this assault on Kenya was perpetrated by an administration led by one who has Kenyan blood flowing through his veins. Nor should we miss the fact that this referendum passed because of the activity of radical feminists.
Where does Kenya go from here?
There will be an immediate opportunity to pass amendments to the constitution. One of the promises of the "Yes" campaigners was that the new constitution can be amended. The majority of Kenyan legislators and voters would like to see pro-life modifications to the constitution, so this should be done as soon as possible.
Since the constitution has both pro-life language and anti-life provisions, legislators can pass pro-life laws. They can codify the basic right to life included in the constitution and declare that abortion is not allowed. This would undoubtedly lead to court battles that the pro-life side will have to fight.
One wonders if the Obama administration, which has thus far flouted not only US law, but the will of the Kenyan people, will continue to do all it can to ensure that abortion is fully legalized throughout Kenya. Their arrogance and nakedly aggressive intervention seems to know no bounds.
Clearly, Kenya is at a crossroads. If there is not a massive societal rejection of legalized abortion, it will be imposed on the nation. We must pray that the Church and pro-life movement will be able to fight this battle successfully. Kenya's future depends on it.
+ Coordination of the pro-life grassroots leadership and their activities, established in the seminaries, universities, colleges and career institutes.
+ Coordination of pro-life activities with parish priests.
+ Pro-life seminars for professionals, seminarians, priests and university students.
Country Profile Population: 34,707,817 (July 2006 est.)
Infant Mortality Rate: 59.26 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)
Total Fertility Rate: 4.91 children born/woman (2006 est.)
Religions: Protestant 45%, Roman Catholic 33%, Muslim 10%, indigenous beliefs 10%, other 2%
Abortion Law Status: Full protection or rigidly controlled, life of the mother exception.
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VERSE OF THE DAY: He who despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is he who is kind
to the needy. -- Proverbs 14:21
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