Zimbabwe’s Catholic bishops have unleashed a scathing pastoral statement against the Medical Services Amendment Bill, branding it a “dangerous shift” that sanctions the massacre of the innocent and erodes life’s sanctity. The proposal scraps the restrictive 1977 Termination of Pregnancy Act, greenlighting abortions on request up to 12 weeks and to 20 weeks for health, mental, or socio-economic reasons.
The bishops spoke firmly: “As the whole Church, we are totally against abortion… Appeal to all people of faith and all those who value life to pray and speak against this evil.” They lamented: “How sad it is that the whole world celebrated with us last year as the country abolished the death penalty, and today it watches as we take a back step and sanction the massacre of the innocent.”
They urged senators to shun “money, political correctness, or seeking relevance,” warning history will judge failures to protect the vulnerable. Upholding life “from conception to natural death,” mirrored in Zimbabwean cultures, the bishops decried the bill as “worship at the altar of human sacrifice.”
Human Life International linked it to U.S. population control agendas like the 1974 Kissinger Report, coercing developing nations via aid and indoctrination. Despite claims of saving women from unsafe abortions—Zimbabwe’s third-leading death cause—the Church insists: “Our prayer is that sanity will prevail, and many innocent lives will be spared.” This stand exposes global pressures undermining African sovereignty and moral foundations.