The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Liberia (CABICOL) has publicly rejected the Inter-Religious Council’s endorsement of the New Public Health Bill in its entirety, saying key provisions on sexual and reproductive health — including language the bishops interpret as permitting “justified abortion” — are inconsistent with Church teaching.
In a statement issued on June 7, CABICOL leaders urged lawmakers to reconsider Part X, Chapter 49 of the draft bill, which covers health and related rights. The conference, led by Most Rev. Anthony Borwah, president of CABICOL and Bishop of Gbarnga, said the Catholic Church “unequivocally rejects the concept of justified abortion as contained in the New Health bill.”
Citing the Fifth Commandment and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the bishops reiterated that “every human life, from the moment of conception until death, is sacred,” and called on Catholic health institutions and “men and women of goodwill” to defend life “from the moment of conception to its natural end.”
“We are not in agreement with the Inter-Religious Council in endorsing and requesting the passage of the New Public Health Bill of Liberia in its entirety,” the statement said. It was signed by Archbishop Gabriel Blamo Jubwe, Metropolitan Archbishop of Monrovia, and bishops Andrew Jagaye Karnley of Cape Palmas and Anthony Borwah.
