Nigerian army denies forced abortion allegations in probe
The Nigerian army says an alleged secret abortion program for women rescued from Boko Haram never took place. However, human rights groups insist a thorough probe into the claims is crucial.

Ben Shemang
April 14, 2023

The Nigerian Human Rights Commission — which is currently probing allegations of army-backed abortions among Boko Haram captives — has promised its final report will be thorough amid repeated denials from the country's military.

The commission's special panel has been holding public hearings since February this year, when it launched a special investigation.

Continued: https://www.dw.com/en/nigerian-army-denies-secret-mass-abortion-program-amid-ongoing-investigation/a-65319824

Alleged Mass Abortion: Nigerian Army chief testifies as Human Rights Commission continues investigation

Reuters reported that the Nigerian military since 2013 carried out “a secret, systematic and illegal abortion program in the country’s northeast, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies."

By Ameh Ejekwonyilo
March 26, 2023

The Nigerian Army has formally dismissed a Reuters report of alleged mass abortion carried out by the military on victims of Boko Haram terrorism in the North-east.

The Chief of Army Staff, Farouk Yahaya, issued the denial Saturday in Abuja while testifying before a panel set up by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to investigate the matter.

Continued: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/590129-alleged-mass-abortion-nigerian-army-chief-testifies-as-human-rights-council-continues-investigation.html

26.03.2023

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Contextualizing the Nigerian Government’s Forced Abortion Program

By Hilary Matfess, Robert Nagel
Sunday, February 12, 2023

In December 2022, Reuters released a shocking report detailing a forced abortion campaign by the Nigerian government that targeted women who were impregnated by members of Boko Haram. The report suggests that the program involved at least five hospitals and five military bases and affected roughly 10,000 women over the course of nearly a decade, which would almost certainly require a degree of oversight and endorsement by senior authorities in the Nigerian government. The accounts from women who were subjected to these forced abortions are harrowing; they reported being given pills or injections to induce abortions without understanding what effect the treatment would have. The program was reportedly justified as a means of eradicating the threat of future insurgents and operated despite Nigeria’s strict regulations on abortion. The Nigerian government has denied these allegations. But in a conflict that has been marked by distressing levels of gender-based violence—including the abduction of women and girls into the ranks of the insurgents—the report added another dimension of systematic state violence against Nigerian women

Continued: https://www.lawfareblog.com/contextualizing-nigerian-governments-forced-abortion-program

Nigeria’s Alleged Forced Abortion Campaign Demands Action

For too long, the international community has ignored the Nigerian military’s abuses.

By Lauren Aarons, Akila Radhakrishnan, and Osai Ojigho
FEBRUARY 9, 2023

Last December, reports of a shocking program of forced abortions emerged in Nigeria. The Nigerian military, a Reuters investigation found, has allegedly forcibly terminated the pregnancies of at least 10,000 women and girls who were rescued or returned from Boko Haram-controlled territories in the country’s northeast. A follow-up report found that the army has also massacred children. Both patterns of abuse, Reuters reported, are part of the military’s systematic campaign amid the Boko Haram conflict to end the armed group’s supposed “bloodline.”

Nigerian authorities have rejected these allegations outright, but this is not the first report detailing alleged abuses by the Nigerian military in the Boko Haram conflict. Nor is it the first report to find patterns of violence, including possible crimes against humanity, in which the military has specifically targeted women and girls. For too long, this issue has been ignored by Nigeria’s allies and the United Nations. Now, the international community must act.

Continued: https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/02/09/nigeria-forced-abortion-campaign-military-report-amnesty-international-action/

Forced mass abortions are a new and disturbing phenomenon in Nigeria

Published: December 14, 2022
Akanni Ibukun Akinyemi

Nigeria classifies abortion as illegal except under certain medical circumstances. A recent investigation by Reuters news agency has alleged that, since 2013, the Nigerian military has run a secret mass abortion programme in the north-east of the country, where it is at war with the militant Islamic organisation Boko Haram. Ten thousand women were allegedly affected – the report claims the women had been raped and impregnated by Boko Haram insurgents. The military has denied the allegations. Reproductive health specialist Akanni Akinyemi sheds further light on abortions in Nigeria.

How common is forced abortion in Nigeria?
There is some evidence that the decision to terminate a pregnancy may be imposed on a woman by either her male partner or some significant others, such as parents and care givers. However, the systemic large scale forced abortions in the north-eastern part of Nigeria as reported in the media are a new development. I don’t think we have recorded anything like this before.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/forced-mass-abortions-are-a-new-and-disturbing-phenomenon-in-nigeria-196494

14.12.2022

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The Nigerian military has been running a secret mass abortion program since 2013

December 10, 2022
Scott Simon
5-Minute Listen with Transcript

NPR's Scott Simon speaks to Reuters Africa correspondent David Lewis about an investigation into the Nigeria military running a secret mass abortion program.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Nigeria's military has been fighting Boko Haram, an Islamist extremist movement, in the north of the country for more than a decade. The United Nations says the conflict has killed more than 300,000 people. The insurgents gained global notoriety in 2014 after they abducted more than 250 high school girls from the town of Chibok. Now an investigation by Reuters has exposed a shocking campaign by the Nigerian military, a secret mass abortion program that's been in operation since 2013. We're joined now by one of the journalists who worked on that story, David Lewis, who is in Nairobi. And just this caution - our conversation would contain descriptions of sexual violence.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/10/1142074731/the-nigerian-military-has-been-running-a-secret-mass-abortion-program-since-2013

10.12.2022

mass abortion program

Nigerian Rights Commission Set to Probe Alleged Secret, Forced Abortion Program by Military

December 09, 2022
Timothy Obiezu

ABUJA, NIGERIA — Nigeria’s human rights commission said Friday it will probe a report that the Nigerian military has secretly run an abortion program that terminated thousands of pregnancies among women and girls who were rescued from Boko Haram militants. The report said most of the abortions involved tricking or forcing women to take pills or injections. The military has rejected the report, calling it untrue.

Officials of the United Nations, the Nigerian government and development partners met at the National Human Rights Commission headquarters in Abuja early Friday.

Continued: https://www.voanews.com/a/nigerian-rights-commission-set-to-probe-alleged-secret-forced-abortion-program-by-military-/6869747.html

09.12.2022

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The Abortion Assault: Nigerian military ran secret mass abortion programme in war against Boko Haram

Since at least 2013, the Nigerian military has conducted a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls, a Reuters investigation has found. Many had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants. Resisters were beaten, held at gunpoint or drugged into compliance, witnesses say.

By PAUL CARSTEN, READE LEVINSON, DAVID LEWIS and LIBBY GEORGE in MAIDUGURI, Nigeria
Portrait photography and videos by CHRISTOPHE VAN DER PERRE and PAUL CARSTEN
Filed Dec. 7, 2022

FATI wondered if her life was over.

Nigerian soldiers surrounded the Lake Chad island village where Islamist insurgents held her and many other women captive. Shells exploded. Bullets whipped by. As her captors fled, Fati blacked out in terror.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/nigeria-military-abortions/

07.12.2022

Secret abortions spike in Nigeria with Boko Haram chaos

Secret abortions spike in Nigeria with Boko Haram chaos

Chitra Nagarajan
October 14, 2019

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kellu became pregnant after a Nigerian soldier offered her food and shelter in exchange for sex. But the destitute teenager - who lost her family when Boko Haram militants attacked her village two years earlier - did not want to have the baby.

After moving to a camp for displaced people in northeastern Borno state, where she relied on neighbours for food, 18-year-old Kellu wanted an abortion but did not know where to go - like a growing number of women since the Islamist insurgency began.

Continued: https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN1WT1PW-OZATP

What evangelical policy means for women worldwide

What evangelical policy means for women worldwide
May 17, 2017

By Molly Hanson
Editorial Writer
Freedom From Religion Foundation

Earlier this year, President Trump ― circled by a half-dozen men in the Oval Office ― signed an executive order restricting the autonomy of women across the globe. The order, signed back in January, froze foreign aid or federal funding for international health organizations that provide abortions. The administration has just announced that it will be expanding this Global Gag Rule, calling it “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance.” Sounds virtuous, right?

Here is the description of the new policy that a White House official gave to “The Brody File” on Christian Broadcasting Network News:

“The pro-life policy will apply to global health assistance funding for international health programs, such as those for HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health, malaria, global health security, and family planning and reproductive health.”

Christian broadcaster David Brody called the policy, “yet another evangelical victory under this administration.”

Continued at source: Freedom from Religion Foundation: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/freethoughtnow/evangelical-foreign-healthcare-policy-means-women/