The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has stated that, based on its investigation and the evidence before it, the Nigerian military did not orchestrate or carry out the termination of approximately 10,000 pregnancies in the North-East, as alleged in a Reuters report.
Recall that Reuters, in a report published on December 7, 2022, titled “The Abortion Assault” with the subheading “Nigerian Military Ran Secret Mass Abortion Programme in War Against Boko Haram,” alleged that since 2013, the Nigerian military had been conducting a secret, systematic, and illegal abortion programme in the North-East, terminating at least 10,000 pregnancies of women and girls, many of whom had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants.
Reuters claimed that the report was based on interviews with 33 women and girls who said the abortions were mostly carried out without their consent or prior knowledge while in the custody of the Nigerian Army. The report further alleged that those who resisted were beaten, held at gunpoint, or drugged into compliance. The victims, ranging from a few weeks to eight months pregnant, included some as young as 12 years old.
The Punch reports that in response to the Reuters publication, 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.
Addressing the media in Abuja on Friday, the commission noted that, after concluding its investigations, it found no evidence to support the claim that the Nigerian military operated a secret programme or had a policy of illegal abortions, based on testimonies from witnesses.
The NHRC also highlighted that, during its investigation, it found that abortions are illegal in Nigerian hospitals, except in the case of medical procedures known as Manual Vacuum Aspiration, which are used to complete ongoing miscarriages.
According to the commission, data collected from hospitals across three different states in the North-East between 2013 and 2023 showed 5,945 cases of Manual Vacuum Aspirations.
