Cameroon: 20,000 March Against Abortion

'One cannot pretend to defend women by proposing abortion or contraceptive measures that threaten her dignity and nuclear family.'

DOUALA, Cameroon (Zenit.org) - More than 20,000 people gathered on the sixth anniversary of the Maputo Protocol to march in protest of the legalization of abortion.

The Saturday march was guided by Cardinal Christian Tumi, archbishop of Douala, the Fides news agency reported. An interreligious delegation also gave the governor a letter for the president with 30,000 signatures, petitioning an end to legal abortion.

Cardinal Tumi concluded the march with a Mass. During the homily, Coadjutor Bishop Samuel Kleda affirmed that "one cannot pretend to defend women by proposing abortion or contraceptive measures that threaten her dignity and nuclear family."

He noted how the Church defends women, adding that "there is no valid reason to incite abortion or infanticide."

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa was adopted by the African Union on July 11, 2003. It authorizes abortion in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnancy is determined to put the mother's physical or psychological health in danger.