Headline: Rwanda: "No" on Abortion

By Ophelia Garrett

In Brief:

The Protestant Counsel of Rwanda (CPR) has issued instructions for all its healthcare facilities to stop performing abortions. They are adopting a similar policy to that held by the Catholic church worldwide in their fight against racism and eugenics. 

The Background: 

Rwanda, a nation of nearly 13 million, is considered a Christian nation with 93.2% identifying as Christian and 30% of all hospitals being Catholic-run. The CPR currently runs around 10% of Rwanda’s health facilities. Following the 2018 legalization of abortion for limited reasons, the decision has been made to focus on abstinence teaching and support of unwed and overwhelmed mothers instead of offering abortion services. However, as required by law, they will make referrals for facilities that will perform abortions when requested. 

Rwanda continues having an ongoing debate as to the use of contraception for single women, fearing it will “green light promiscuous” behavior. 

Similar to America’s Planned Parenthood, the root of the abortion industry in Africa was founded on racism and eugenics. 

Breitbart reports: “abortion provider Marie Stopes International, whose founder was a racist and eugenicist, currently operates more than 600 clinics in 37 countries around the world, many of them targeting blacks in sub-Saharan Africa. According to data from its website, the organization took the lives of 2,628,900 unborn African children in 2019 alone, far more than the sum of all the abortions it performed in predominantly white Europe, North and South America, and Australia combined.”

Notable Quotes: 

"For us, we have our belief, and our belief cannot be taken away by the law. We are not opposing the law, but our belief does not allow us to support abortion." – Laurent Mbanda, head of the Anglican Church of Rwanda