Pro-Life Group Sponsoring Petition Opposing Pro-Abortion Kenya Constitution
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 16, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — An international pro-life group is sponsoring a new petition and is working to secure signatures from pro-life organizations in the United States and elsewhere opposing the pro-abortion proposed constitution in Kenya that will receive a vote in August.
The World Congress of Families is in the process of collecting the signatures of pro-life and pro-family leaders around the world on a petition "In Support of The ‘No’ Campaign and Kenyans Opposed To The Pro-Abortion Constitution."
"Pro-lifers in Kenya need to know that they have allies around the world who stand in solidarity with them," WCF said.
The petition says "the undersigned pro-family and pro-life leaders urge Kenyans to consider the consequences of enacting a constitution which would, in reality, allow unlimited access to abortion and result in the destruction of countless unborn children and injury to women."
Managing director Larry Jacobs told LifeNews.com about the petition and said, "And we’re doing it without tax dollars."
That is a reference to the concerns pro-life groups and members of Congress that President Barack Obama has spent as much as $10 million illegally supporting the efforts of constitution supporters to secure passage of the document, which would overturn the historic pro-life laws of the African nation.
According to information that Congressmen Chris Smith, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Darrell Issa received from the Office of the Inspector General of the US Agency for International Development, USAID has given grants totaling at least $680,000 to groups working to turn out the "yes" (pro-abortion) vote in the referendum.
They believe the total is closer to $10 million and point out public statements Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and officials have made that support the process without technically endorsing the constitution.
Jacobs charged that not only was this illegal but hypocritical.
"Grants to groups working to pass the new Constitution clearly violate the Siljander Amendment, which provides that no USAID or State Department funds ‘may be used to lobby for or against abortion,’" Jacobs observed.
"The Obama Administration claims that it’s appalled by past U.S. interference in the internal affairs of other nations," Jacobs disclosed. "And yet, when it comes to promoting the president’s political agenda, the Obama administration wades waist deep into Kenyan politics."
The proposed constitution contains a “right to life at conception” but then carves out a health exception and explicitly allows abortion if it is permitted by another law. This clearly expands legalized abortion in Kenya.
The proposed Constitution will be voted on in an August 4 referendum. As the Petition notes, Section 27 of the Constitution sets up a mechanism for abortion-on-demand.
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