The Imo State Government and the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri are now on warpath following the legalization of abortion in the state. Consequently, the Archbishop of the Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony Obinna has demanded that the two obnoxious law containing the anti-life legislation said to have been signed into law by both Governor Rochas Okorocha and his predecessor Chief Achike Udenwa in 2012 and 2007 respectively be repealed.
Addressing newsmen in Owerri, on the forthcoming 2013 Odenigbo Lecture of the Diocese, Dr. Obinna regretted that in spite of the public outcry and pleas to the State House of Assembly
not to pass the evil law legalizing abortion in 2010, Governor Okorocha quietly signed the bill as Imo State Law No 12 which he said contains the obnoxious lethal legislation on the 29th of May 2012 and thus coinciding with Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
The law, the bishop lamented, now threatens many conceived unborn children in the state with death.
The Catholic prelate also slammed ex-Governor Achike Udenwa for equally signing on 25th May 2007 “the gender and Equal Opportunity Law 2007 No 7” which he said, equally legalized abortion without considering the right of the unborn child.
“Since abortion is a murder of the helpless child, we as a God-fearing people in Imo State cannot stand by and allow this law to rampage our society in the name of Women’s Reproductive and Gender Rights,” he warned.
While calling for the immediate repealing of the two abortion laws in the state, the Archbishop said that although the church will not be mired in the nation’s murky waters of partisan politics, it will continue to demonstrate interest in the nation’s democratic process for the common good of the people.
However, most people in the state have expressed the fear that the law did not only legalize abortion and prostitution but may have also legalized the trafficking in human embryo as section 38(h) and (I)of the legislation seem to suggest.
The Catholic Medical Practitioners who were the first to speak vehemently against the law slammed the state legislators for passing such an obnoxious and inhuman law which has not only given license for promiscuity but has inadvertently sanctioned murder of unborn babies in the state, as well as encourages the trafficking of ovarian eggs in the state.
According to Dr Philip Njamanze, president of the association, considering the contents of the law as passed by the state legislators implies that a woman is entitled to have an abortion even at the ninth month no matter how she conceived it.
He noted that the section which gives the right to every woman to take decisions about her health needs and requirements implies that abortion has been legalized and operational in the state, irrespective of how the pregnancy was conceived.
“It means that a woman has the right to abortion even if she has a slight headache, even at the ninth month,” vowing “to resist it”.
Speaking in the same vein, the Director of Social Communications of the Owerri Catholic Arch Diocese, Rev Father George Nwachukwu, described the passage of such a law by the state Legislature as not only a crime against humanity but a crime against God as the entire Christian community in the state is sadden by the action of the state legislators .
He pointed out that the legislators have not only failed in their duties to make laws for the good of the state but has also lost the confidence of the people of the state and that the entire catholic faithful in the state will fight against the abortion law.
“The entire Christian community is saddened by this obnoxious legislation which the state Assembly has passed into law. It is a shame that Christian legislators would choose to make the murder of innocent and unborn babies legal in a Christian state and it is unacceptable by the Catholic Church and other Christian dominations.
“ All the Catholic priests in the state have therefore resolved to fight this evil law in the state by campaigning against it in all the parishes of the Catholic Church beginning this very Sunday. Because it is unacceptable, we are going to ensure that the abortion law is abrogated”.
Similarly, the Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Egbu, Rt. Reverend Geoffrey Okorafor has described the passage of the VAPP Law as the legalization of prostitution in the state noting that as far as the church is concerned, the law is a sin against God.
“As far as the church is concerned, the act is a sin against God. This is a Christian state and the legislators should not betray the confidence the people have in them, by that law they are promoting and legalizing prostitution in the state which should not be”.
The prelate further advised that the legislators should repeal the law as it has already portrayed the state in very bad light.
For Pastor Mrs Angela Eke of the Light of the Resurrection Gospel Mission, the passage of the Abortion Law is a manifestation of the end times noting that nobody should be surprised if the state legislators wake up one day to pass a law sanctioning gay marriage.
“When I heard the news on Tuesday that the Assembly has legalized abortion in the state, I was not surprised because we are already living in an evil generation which are clear signs that the end time is near. So nobody should be surprised if tomorrow we hear that gay marriage is now legal in the state. Has the Senate not reduced the age of marriage to thirteen years?, ” she queried.
Pastor Eke pointed out that the law is a reflection of the kind of people who are making laws for the state as an evil tree cannot bear good fruit.
The law as passed by the State Assembly expressly stated in page 38 (h) that every woman shall have the right to take decisions about her health needs and requirements. In particular, she shall have the right to determine the processes concerning reproduction in her body and (i) every woman shall have the right to enjoy reproductive rights including the right to medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest and where the continued pregnancy endangers the life or physical, mental, psychological or emotional health of the mother.
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