Evangelical pastors to hold demos against legalising abortion: Religious pro-choice movement emerges
Evangelical Pastors Alliance has threatened to hold demonstrations if Parliament will pass a bill that would allow abortion in cases of rape and incest, saying they will persuade President Lazarus Chakwera not to assent the piece of legislation into law.
Reverend Vincent Chiesa of Blantyre Baptist Church and Bishop Gift Chaura of Evangelical Pastors Alliance asked the National Assembly not to discuss the bill, which is expected to be presented during the current sitting of parliament.
“We ask members of parliament not to pass this bill but if they don’t listen to what we are saying, we will call for demonstrations asking President Chakwera (a former evangelical preacher) not to assent to the bill,” said Chiesa.
Abortion – the termination of pregnancy -is currently illegal in Malawi and punishable by a maximum of 14 years in prison except in cases where pregnancy threatens the life of a woman.
Proponents of the Termination of Pregnancy Bill say the restriction is forcing women to seek illegal abortion services mostly from untrained personnel.
“Abortion is morally wrong because of their belief that human life begins at conception. Abortion is wrong in every circumstance and a nation that kills its children is a nation without hope,” Bishop Chaura said.
He added: “For Christians, human life is sacred and is a gift from God which is to be respected and protected. The Bible teaches that human beings are created in the image of God. It also teaches that murder is forbidden.”
Meanwhile, a pro-life Religious Network for Choice, a religious group that promotes freedoms and human rights, has come out in the open to support the abortion bill.
Speaking at a news conference in Blantyre, general-secretary for the network Reverend Cliff Nyekanyeka called on government to exercise its obligations of protecting lives of women and girls in the country.
Nyekanyeka highlighted that the implementation of the Bill will save women and girls from unnecessary deaths caused by unsafe Abortion and other causes.
He called upon members of Parliament to pass the Bill when it is tabled in the August House.
The lawmakers are expected to debate the bill before the current sitting of parliament ends on October 23.
In 2016, a group of anti-abortion activists led by the Catholic Church marched to parliament to stop lawmakers from discussing the legislation.
The chairperson for the Episcopal Conference of Malawi, His Grace Archbishop Thomas Msusa has also warned that government should not champion the Termination of Pregnancy Bill though coming as a private-member’s motion, saying abortion promotes killings.
Msusa has warned that the Catholic Church and others will take to the streets as they did in 2016 “or another way of doing things, until what God calls us for, should be listened.”
But the pro-choice r network has since criticised other religious groupings for being hypocritical and deliberately misinforming the nation on the contents of the Bill.
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There are only two groups of people who should be allowed to express opinions on this topic: women under the age of 50, and men with fertile vaginas. Presumably the men who are against the legal termination of pregnancies are men with fertile vaginas.
Ufortunately we have too many pastors from hell masquarading as real pastors. They form go around modenising what God ordered as unclean to be clean. I ma compelled to think that they would like either to use this opportunity to hide their real self by taking advantage of the abortion law their filthy acts with men and women in their respective “churches” They are a filthy lot borne out of the pit of hell and have no place in the body of christ. We will stand with those who stad with the word and not these “pastors”
Bring the figures here. How many women die from unsafe abortions??? Lets be honest. Alot of women already know that they can access this from BLM and alot more other clinics.
There is an inherent problem with anything being done illegally: it is hard to come up with reliable estimates or figures. That being said, it is a fact that females die from unsafe abortions so it really does not matter how many die as one death from unsafe abortion is unacceptable
Of course i agree with you that abortions are already being conducted in the country albeit in not so ideal conditions because of lack of oversight and supervision
The human body — and yes, that includes the body of a woman — is a SOVEREIGN STATE. What part of this don’t these fuckin’ pastors not understand??
I salute Bingu Wa Munthalika he was really chosen by people not through mademo, power hungry. He would declare once and for all that “mtundu, chikhalidwe ndiponso chipempezo changa sichilora zoterezo” kunena musaopa dziko lonse linamva. Osati zomaopa anthu kutibamapanga mademo ndikalamula chifukwa ulamuliro unatengedwa ndi mphamvu ya ma demo ndiye kumangoti ndisiya mmanja mwa anthu apange zikhanizo zomwe akufuna. Kuopa ku Kupangiridwa mademo kumafinyika. Ama tchalichi taperekani chigamulo tidzidalirira inu timakudalirani kale.
The aborted foetus are valuable and can fetch alot of money. I hear research companies buy these for medical research. Malawians will die for love of money. I just hope that they won’t cry next time they have incurable diseases due to curses from almighty god or from laboratory.
Most of the decisions to abort are made under very difficult set of circumstances. I am not sure financial gain is even part of it. In the extreme situation, our females even insert themselves with sticks or detergent/caustic solutions!
How can you protect life by eliminating another life?
I hope your question is a rhetorical one.
I wish these abortion decisions were primarily made by women and men were secondary not on the forefront
Mtsikana okongolayo mwati ndi m’busa naye? Nditha kujoina mpingo wake lero lomwe ndithu
I love the jungle. Very much.