According to an allegation made by Reuters on Wednesday, the Nigerian military has denied running a decade-long illegal operation to perform abortions on women and girls who have been the victims of armed groups in the north-west.
“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,” the news agency said.
It said many of the women and girls had been kidnapped and raped by armed fighters, adding that those who resisted an abortion ran the risk of being “beaten, held at gunpoint or drugged into compliance.”
The research was based on witness accounts from 33 women and girls, five medical professionals, nine security officers, and documentation from the military and hospitals that “described or tallied thousands of abortion procedures.”
According to Reuters, the majority of the abortions were performed without the women’s knowledge or consent, and some were done so using abortion-inducing medicines or injections that were marketed as cures or preventatives for illnesses. The CIA was unable to identify who started the abortion programme or which military or government officials were in charge of it.
Ned Price, a spokesman for the US Department of State, stated on Wednesday that Washington was looking into the report.
“It was a harrowing report. … It’s a concerning report and for that reason, we are seeking further information,” he said.
The epicentre of a conflict led by armed groups, most notably Boko Haram in 2009, is in northeastern Nigeria.
In the protracted conflict, which has spread to the neighboring countries of Chad, Niger, and Cameroon, more than 40,000 people have died and approximately two million people have been displaced.
In its reaction, the Nigerian army lashed the report as “a body of insults on the Nigerian peoples and culture. Nigerian military personnel have been raised, bred and further trained to protect lives,” it said.
“[The] Nigerian military will not, therefore, contemplate such evil of running a systematic and illegal abortion programme anywhere and anytime, and surely not on our own soil.”
Nigerian culture is fundamentally influenced by religion, with Christianity predominating in the south and Islam dominating the north.
Except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger, abortion is outlawed in this nation.
Illegal pregnancy abortion in the north can result in a 14-year prison sentence.
