JOHN SMEATON, DIRECTOR OF SPUC: Fears for women and unborn children freed from Boko Haram

Monday, 11 May 2015

Fears for women and unborn children freed from Boko Haram

Girls captured by Boko Haram

While rejoicing that women and children, held captive by Boko Haram, have been rescued, SPUC, which has 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 told the media earlier today:

"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."

Antonia has recently returned from a major conference in Nigeria, at which Nigerians denounced Western agencies imposing abortion on their culture which values human life.

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About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 42 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.