Malawi Churches Say No To Abortion, Same Sex Marriage: Petition Parliament

Thousands of Christians, Muslims, Rastafarians and others from various denominations have held national wide peaceful march this Thursday asking the Malawi National Assembly to throw off proposed abortion bill and same sex marriage legalisation once they happen to find their way in the House for deliberation.

This historical national wide march led by Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) and the Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) is a strong opposition to possible legalisation of abortion and same sex marriage in near future as secular human rights groups are advancing with calls for liberalised abortion and legalisation of same sex unions.

In Lilongwe, hundreds of people wearing white shirts, carrying placards with inscription of biblical verses that denounce abortion and homosexuality, marched to the National Assembly where a petition was delivered to the Speaker of the House through Honorable Juliana Lunguzi, chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee for Health, while other march happened in other cities and districts which also attracted a lot of people.

Expressing their strong rejection to abortion and same sex union, Secretary General for the ECM, Fr. Henry Saindi said Malawi is not “a secular state” but rather “a God fearing nation” and therefore it would be against religious and cultural values to allow termination of pregnancy and same sex unions happen in the country.

“Malawians believe in God” he stressed and said this is why “leaders” of Malawi have always asked people to pray for the good rains.

He said as God fearing nation, Malawians must protect life of unborn which begins when woman conceive and added “Let the unborn decide for themselves” if they want life or not.

In accord with the crowd Fr. Saindi shouted “No!” to any liberalisation of abortion laws and “No!” to any promotion of homosexual practices.

Reverend Francis Mkandawire, General Secretary for the EAM, echoed Fr. Saind remarks that Malawi is a God fearing nation and added that this is why most meetings open with a word of prayer.

“Let us not remove God from our nation” he advised then warned; “because he will leave us alone and punishing us. That will lead to more sufferings”

He said the march marks the beginning of fight against abortion and same sex marriage legalisation proposals. And he continued to warn that “we will come back again” if these proposals continue to advance to the National Assembly.

Lazarus Chakwera and Uladi Mussa with other MPs

Mary Navicha, Cecilia Chazama, Lilian Patel and
Other MPs

A good number of legislators led by Leader of Opposition, Lazarus Chakwera, Peoples Party acting President, Uladi Mussa, AFORD President, Enock Chihana and Deputy Director General of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Celilia Chazama came out from chamber to welcome the petition.

When the petition was being read, the parliamentarians were seen clapping their hands and nodding their heads in support of the church position.

The Petition

The petition say, the termination of pregnancy is threat to human life which is also against culture, beliefs and country’s laws.

“This pressure is clearly manifested under the guise of "safe abortion" or "sexual reproductive health rights, in order to promote the killing of unborn children. While rape, incest and defilement are undesirable, evil and sinful acts in the eyes of God, abortions resulting from such cases have no biblical or human rights basis.” Reads the petition which adds that All instances of direct abortions, deliberate killing of innocent human beings are gravely evil and sinful.

“We remind all those entrusted with the delicate task of formulating laws that "any country that accepts abortion, is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what it wants,.. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child how can we tell other people not to kill one another"

On homosexuality the petition say this is sinful, unnatural and threat to the continuity and morality of a society.

“As ECM and EAM we jointly reiterate that sex and marriage are naturally between a man and a woman and that the union of man and woman is the naturally ideal and complete basic unit of a society.”

“As such anything that runs counter to this natural set-up must be challenged, we categorically state that no institution including the Executive, Legislative, Judiciary, local and foreign agencies have the mandate to redefine marriage and family.”

It call upon all Malawians of goodwill to stand up for the institution of marriage and family' of between a man and a woman adding “We say NO to gay and lesbian unions.”

National Assembly Response

Receiving the petition, Honorable Juliana Lunguzi urged Malawians to pray for their legislators so that they are guided by the Holy Spirit when making decisions in Parliament.

“As representatives we hear what people say” she added, “We will use our conscious to make sure that we make right decisions; that is palatable to our nation, that is according to our beliefs and our culture.”

Abortion Bill in Malawi

Currently, the Malawi Abortion law criminalises all such acts of procuring or assisting the procuring of miscarriage of pregnant woman except where it is performed to save life of pregnant woman through a surgical operation.

However, the July 2015 report from the Special Law Commission on the Review on Abortion Law, proposed that the abortion law be liberalised as opposed to discrimination to carter for certain justifiable instances where termination of a pregnancy should be permissible.

Proposed grounds includes to save the life of woman, or if there is malformation of the foetus which will affect its viability or compatibility with life as well as where the pregnancy is as a result of rape, incest or defilement.

Human rights institutions are pushing for the formulation of the bill following this report in order to end unsafe abortions in the country.

Studies estimate over 17% of maternal death in Malawi are due to unsafe abortions and the most marginalised women and girls bear the greatest burden of unsafe abortion as those who are more privileged can afford safe abortions. Malawi Ministry of Health in 2009 recorded that the magnitude of unsafe abortion were over 70,000 women and girls who induce abortions every year. Out of these over 30,000 women and girls ended up with complications that required treatment in hospitals.

The proponents of abortion legislation including COPUA say underlining cause of unsafe abortions is due failure to access to safe abortion since current laws are restrictive only to conditions where the life of pregnant woman is in danger. These proponents say this forces women and girls to terminate their pregnancy through unsafe methods which sometimes results in permanent disability or death.