London, : While rejoicing that women and children, held captive by Boko Haram, have been rescued, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) www.spuc.org.uk a campaigning organisation with an outreach to Africa, is concerned by the presence of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which claims to be offering "counselling" to the freed women who are pregnant.
UNFPA is one of the leading international groups promoting abortion in the developing world. It is sending huge numbers of reproductive health kits to displacement camps in Nigeria where women rescued from Boko Haram have been taken. The term "reproductive health" is used to cover a range of interventions including abortion. SPUC fears that these emotionally vulnerable, malnourished women will be pressured into aborting their babies.
Antonia Tully of SPUC commented: "Press stories have focused almost exclusively on the reported high number of pregnancies among the released women. It is extremely worrying that some of these women may undergo abortions, which could cause them further physical and emotional trauma in their already weakened state. The deaths of their unborn babies would add to the toll of lives lost in this tragic situation."
Mrs Tully has recently returned from a major conference in Nigeria, at which Nigerians denounced Western agencies imposing abortion on their culture which values human life.
Antonia Tully of SPUC can be contacted on 07926 007175 or 020 8407 3463. SPUC's communications department can be contacted on: