The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has refuted allegations made in a Reuters report that the Nigerian military orchestrated the termination of approximately 10,000 pregnancies in the North-East.
The NHRC’s investigation found no evidence to support claims of a secret, systematic, and illegal abortion programme conducted by the military. The Reuters report, published on December 7, 2022, titled “The Abortion Assault,” alleged that since 2013, the Nigerian military had been running a covert abortion programme, terminating pregnancies of women and girls, many of whom were victims of kidnapping and ra’pe by Islamist militants.
The report was based on interviews with 33 women and girls who claimed the abortions were carried out without their consent or knowledge, often under duress.
In response, the NHRC established The Special Independent Investigative Panel on Human Rights Violations in Counter-Insurgency Operations in the North-East, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Abdul Aboki.
After thorough investigations, the panel concluded that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegations against the Nigerian military....Read Full Article [Click Here>]
Addressing the media in Abuja, the NHRC emphasized that abortions are illegal in Nigerian hospitals, except for medical procedures known as Manual Vacuum Aspiration, used to complete ongoing miscarriages.
Data collected from hospitals in three North-Eastern states between 2013 and 2023 showed 5,945 cases of such procedures.
Hillary Ogbonna, senior adviser to the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, stated, “There is no evidence that the Nigerian military conducted a secret, systematic, and illegal abortion programme in the North-East. There is no evidence of illegal abortion programmes terminating 10,000 pregnancies by the Nigerian military in the North-East.”
