*as Archbishop Obinna urges Imo Assembly to repeal law.
Various groups in the Catholic Church in Imo State are gearing for a battle against the government and governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha following the recent passage of the bill legalising abortion into law by the state House of Assembly.This is even as the Archbishop of Owerri Catholic Archdiocese, Most Rev. Anthony Obinna has demanded the immediate repeal of the law, which is said to have been given assent to by the governor.
The law which is to be cited as the “Violence Against Persons(Prohibition) Law No 12, Imo State of Nigeria, formally permits women both married and unmarried to carry out abortion at will.The law which was ironically sponsored by a Catholic and Majority Leader of the House, Mrs. Adaku Ihuoma provides that every woman should obtain the rights to enjoy reproductive rights which includes right to medical abortion in cases of intimate assaults, molestation, inbreeding and possible health danger associated to the woman.
Reacting weekend against the law,one of the groups in the Catholic Church, under the upsices of Catholic Medical Practitioners Association(AMPA), Dr. Philip Njemanze said the law was dehumanising and unacceptable to the society and God.He maintained that the law would encourage human egg trafficking and that anybody could just be bold enough to ask for abortion rights in the state, a development he said was not proper.On his own, Archbishop Obinna stated that abortion was a sin against God as it contradicts the fifth commandment of God.
The prelate observed with dismay that a woman(majority leader) in the state House of Assembly could sponsor such a law, wondering why men and women of conscience should think of such inhuman law.He recalled that the same bill was signed into law by Chief Achike Udenwa’s administration but did not sail through because religious bodies, women and all adherrents of God’s commandments protested against it leading to its suspension.The Archbishop therefore called on the governor and the state House of Assembly to repeal the law as it was against the faith of Christians in the state.
