Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) - “The Catholic Church strongly feels the fight against abortion is the fight for the family,” said Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi, in an ecumenical encounter that took place on March 24 in the Kenyan capital.
The meeting, which was also attended by political leaders, was to discuss the draft of the new constitution, whose draft presented by the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Review has aroused strong opposition from the Church as it contains a clause that shifts the beginning of life from conception to birth (see Fides 5/2/2010).
Cardinal Njue, according to reports from the Catholic agency CISA, called on parliamentarians to revise the law on the beginning of life and recognize that life begins at conception.
The representative of the Association of Catholic Doctors, Dr. Stephen Karanja, stressed that, “we are against death of our children. Doctors are led by the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors to do everything possible to preserve human life." Dr. Karanja said that there is nothing in medical firmament called abortion adding that abortion injures women physically and "we must protect the mothers of this country."
The evangelical Alliance of Kenya, Secretary General Wellington Mutiso said, "Life is sacred and it begins at conception,” adding that a fetus is not sub-human."
In reaction to Christian leaders, MP David Musila said, "The contentious issues raised by the church have been more or less relegated on the sides, but all is not lost." He said they will try and rally other MPs in parliament to get the necessary votes so that the nation goes to the referendum united.
Another contentious issue in the draft constitution for Kenya is the presence of Muslim civil courts known as the Kadhi courts. This has once again widened the Christian-Muslim split. Kenyan Church leaders have dismissed the creation of the Kadhi Courts, as currently proposed in the draft constitution, as a ploy to "elevate one religion over the other," while the Islamic clerics have warned that they would mobilise the Muslim community to reject a new draft that omits the Kadhi courts. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 27/3/2010)
