{"id":323789,"date":"2025-01-01T09:55:43","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T15:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=323789"},"modified":"2024-12-31T14:28:03","modified_gmt":"2024-12-31T20:28:03","slug":"religious-organization-abortion-sierra-leone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/religious-organization-abortion-sierra-leone\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious organization opposes efforts to legalize abortion in Sierra Leone"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Members of a Christian professionals organization in Africa are urging the government of Sierra Leone to \u201cwithdraw or amend\u201d a proposal that would legalize abortion in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Government officials are currently considering the <a href=\"https:\/\/c-fam.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/MRH-Bill-2024-word-docs-11-4-24-ver2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Act of 2024<\/a>, legislation that would legalize abortion up to 14 weeks for <em>any<\/em> reason, and up to birth for additional reasons. The law does not clarify the difference between ending a pregnancy through live birth delivery or ending it through induced abortion \u2014 the direct and intentional <em>killing<\/em> of the preborn child \u2014 under the law, but states only that &#8220;&#8216;termination of pregnancy&#8217; means a procedure or process of ending a pregnancy.&#8221; Other reasons for &#8216;termination of the pregnancy&#8217; included in the bill are questionable and concerning. According to the proposed law, &#8220;services to be provided&#8221; include:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Safe termination of pregnancy services where &#8211; <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>(i) The age of the pregnancy is fourteen weeks or less <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>(ii) the continued pregnancy will endanger the life of a pregnant woman or adolescent girl; <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>(iii) the termination of pregnancy is necessary to prevent injury to the physical or mental health of a pregnant woman or adolescent girl;<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>(iv) there is malformation of the foetus which will affect its viability or incompatibility with life; or <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>(v) the pregnancy is a result of sexual penetration, rape or incest; <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>(vi) prevention and treatment of complications of unsafe termination of pregnancy; and <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>(vii) obstetric fistula<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, a report revealed that the Biden administration may be pressuring the country to adopt the pro-abortion act by <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/report-biden-administration-pressuring-sierra-leone-abortion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">threatening to withhold<\/a> foreign aid if it does not pass. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mariestopes.org.za\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marie Stopes<\/a>, an international pro-abortion organization based in the UK with <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/illegal-abortions-fake-doctors-kenya-marie-stopes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ties<\/a> to illegal abortions in Kenya, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mariestopes.org.sl\/help-advice\/marie-stopes-engaged-members-of-parliament-on-smrh-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">participated<\/a> in the drafting of the bill.<\/p>\n<p>The Africa Christian Professionals Forum (ACPF) shared its statement denouncing abortion, and urging government leaders to reconsider in a Facebook post on December 21.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; overflow: hidden;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D593995009834790%26id%3D100076728879621&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500\" width=\"500\" height=\"811\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;ACPF strongly urges the Government and Members of Parliament of Sierra Leone to withdraw or amend the provisions within the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Care Bill, 2024, that allow the termination of pregnancies up to 14 weeks,&#8221; the group wrote in its statement. &#8220;These provisions violate the Constitution of Sierra Leone, contradict International Conventions to which Sierra Leone is a signatory, and undermine the sanctity of life, which is a fundamental Principle of our shared moral and cultural values.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ: <em><a class=\"row-title\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=323432&amp;action=edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" aria-label=\"\u201cPro-abortion media: Subsidize Planned Parenthood instead of children\u2019s births\u201d (Edit)\">Pro-abortion media: Subsidize Planned Parenthood instead of children\u2019s births<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The group went on to call for the redirection of efforts away from abortion to the strengthening of maternal healthcare services, including greater access to prenatal and postnatal care, counseling for those in crisis pregnancies, and greater support for adoption.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aciafrica.org\/news\/13555\/africas-christian-professionals-urge-sierra-leonean-government-to-withdraw-or-amend-bill-seeking-to-legalize-abortion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Catholic News Agency<\/a>, other religious leaders in Sierra Leone have spoken out against the proposal, including Bishop\u00a0Bob John Hassan Koroma of the Catholic Diocese of Makeni.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis, in our estimation as Catholics, is a subtle way of legalizing the unspeakable crime of abortion in this country \u2013 an act diametrically opposed to the very essence of what we celebrate at this time, namely, the birth of the Baby Jesus,\u201d Bishop Koroma <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aciafrica.org\/news\/13537\/vote-categorically-against-that-bill-catholic-bishop-to-sierra-leones-legislators-on-bill-to-legalize-abortion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> in his Christmas message.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI, together with my brother Bishops, call on all religiously minded Parliamentarians and Parliamentarians of goodwill, capable of distinguishing between good and evil, to vote categorically against that bill.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/end-taxpayer-dollars-to-planned-parenthood\/\"><b><i>Tell President Trump, RFK, Jr., Elon, and Vivek:<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/end-taxpayer-dollars-to-planned-parenthood\/\"><b><i>Stop killing America\u2019s future. Defund Planned Parenthood NOW!<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Members of a Christian professionals organization in Africa are urging the government of Sierra Leone to \u201cwithdraw or amend\u201d a proposal that would legalize abortion in the country. Government officials are currently considering the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Act of 2024, legislation that would legalize abortion up to 14 weeks for any reason, and up [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":323797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Religious organization opposes efforts to legalize abortion in Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After the Biden administration pressured legislators in Sierra Leone to legalize abortion, Christian professionals are fighting back.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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