Monrovia, Liberia – The former president of the Liberia Council of Churches is urging Liberians and their parliamentarians to carefully examine whether to seek to legalize abortion on demand for any cause, up to 14 weeks, as the abortion issue in Liberian society heats up.
indicated that he felt that Liberia should permit abortion for risks grounds and not just for any cause at all. He is also the overseer of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church international.
At the conclusion of a two-day retreat held at the New Water in the Desert Apostolic Pentecostal Church Campus in Brewerville, Montserrado County on Friday, July 14, 2023, Bishop Brown delivered a speech on behalf of the LICOSES Teacher’s College Training program.
According to Bishop Brown, abortion is permissible if the mother’s life is in danger, as well as if rape, incest, and disability.
He asserted that “this is already legal in Liberia,” and issued a warning against any legislation that would permit abortions after three months for any cause other than danger to the mother’s life, incest, rape, or physical or mental incapacity.
He argued that abortion should never be carried out on a baby who is more than four months old in the mother’s womb for any reason, arguing that doing so “would give Liberia one of the most extreme abortion laws in Africa, even more extreme than most European countries.”
Bishop Brown, who was formerly the head of the Liberian Inter Religious Council, added, “According to studies, at 14 weeks, or almost 4 months, a baby has all of its primary organs formed, including a beating heart; it is able to experience pain, and so on.
The Bishop argued that studies have revealed that in some places of the globe where abortion has been legalized, one in four children are aborted, which is like losing a quarter of the country’s population only through legal abortion alone.
According to studies, it is difficult to articulate what a catastrophic impact that has had on those countries because there is no going back once abortion is legal, so once the floodgates are opened, thousands of children in Liberia will be legally killed.
Given that the majority of abortions occur within the first 14 weeks, the new rule would make the majority of abortions lawful, according to Bishop Brown. Because the proposed law permits abortion for any reason, not just for rape, incest, and/or disability, and not just for risks to the mother’s life, “about 15,000 children could be lost by abortion each year in Liberia” if the rate reached European levels, according to the argument that “exceptional abortions are already legal in Liberia.”
The Bishop called on Liberian lawmakers to engage a more moderate bill as they revise the Public Health Bill that would actually improve on the 1976 law instead of adopting laws that could have unfavorable impact on the population of the country in years to come.
“Every child has a right to life whether born or unborn, reiterating Psalms Chapter 139 verses 13 thru 16 declares that, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
Joseph Sowambee, the chair of the House’s health committee, revealed last week that the national legislature was debating whether or not to legalize abortion in Liberia.
Reported by: Augustine Octavius
Contact: +231777463963
Email: augustineoctavius@gmail.com
