Thousands of Pro-Life People in Malawi March Against Legislation to Legalize Abortion

International   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Dec 7, 2016   |   11:33AM   |   Lilongwe, Malawi

Thousands of people in Malawi marched for the rights of unborn babies on Tuesday after word spread that legislators may consider a bill to legalize abortion.

The Episcopal Conference of Malawi and the Evangelical Association of Malawi organized the marches in the African nation, bringing thousands of people together in cities across the nation, The Maravi Post reports.

“Citizens’ March for Life and Family is an open call to all Malawians to love their country by standing up for what is morally right today. In the face of the hugely funded campaign for the ‘killing of unborn children’ (abortion) and legalisation of homosexuality which are a direct attack on life and family respectively,’’ the groups said in a statement. The groups said they also organized the march to protest acceptance of homosexuality.

The theme of the Tuesday marches was “Lighting the Candle.” A large banner at one location proclaimed that “Life is sacred” and “Life must be protected from conception.” Other photos from the events showed people carrying signs with Bible verses about the value of human life.

The Malawi penal code currently prohibits abortions except when the life of the mother is threatened.

All Africa reports Minister of Information and Communications Technology and government spokesman Malison Ndau said there is no bill to legalize abortion right now.

“The truth of the matter is that the Law Commission has developed a report and made recommendations to government to adopt a new law on abortion,” Ndau told reporters.

He explained that the commission was set up to review the country’s penal code on abortion and make recommendations in relation to problems with unsafe abortions in the country.

“This Report is yet to be submitted to Cabinet through the Minister of Justice for Cabinet’s consideration,” Ndau said in a statement. “This has not been done at this stage. It is important to emphasize that Reports of the Law Commission are merely recommendations to government. It is the prerogative of Cabinet to adopt or reject any recommendations originating from the Law Commission.”

Here’s more from the report:

But faith groups argued that the pro-life demonstrations were organised because life, family and marriage are under direct attack.

The organisers called the event ‘historical.’

“We cannot install a culture of death in our country,” said one of a Catholic Christian who joined people donning all white t-shirts in the ‘march for life’.

“I marched to say yes to life,” Tarcicius Mbewe said.

EAM general secretary Reverend Francis Mkandawire and ECM counterpart Father Henry Saindi, said it was important to note that people support ‘pro-life’ advocacy.

Abortion activists are pushing Malawi lawmakers to legalize abortion, claiming that it will keep women from seeking dangerous back-alley and do-it-yourself abortions. However, reports indicate that it is abortion activists themselves who are providing women with these unsafe, illegal abortions.

The southeast African nation has been a constant target of international abortion activists and population control groups.

In 2014, Human Life International’s Emil Hagamu explained more about the situation:

For years the Malawi government, as with many African governments, has been told by Western allies to reduce their population. The way to do this is by promoting contraceptives and abortion rights. Unfortunately, the more people adopt this anti-life mindset, the more they share in the problems of the West, including infertility, which is increasing among many reproductive age women. …

Sex “education” is in place in all schools of Malawi, and through it young women are encouraged to abandon motherhood in order to hold positions of political or economic power. Though Malawi restricts abortion, there is a strong campaign to legalize abortion as a medically viable treatment with strong funding by pro-abortion lobbies.

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