Àjose Nigeria has urged religious leaders and churches across the country to embrace compassion as a critical tool in addressing Nigeria’s maternal health challenges, saying supporting access to life-saving healthcare for women facing high-risk pregnancies should not be misconstrued as endorsing abortion.
The call comes against the backdrop of Nigeria’s high burden of unsafe abortions and maternal deaths. According to available statistics, the country records about 33 abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age. In Lagos, a study by the public health organisation, Campaign Against Unwanted Pregnancy, CAUP, found that 52 per cent of maternal deaths were linked to unsafe abortions.
Data also show that unsafe abortions account for about 11 per cent of maternal deaths nationwide, with adolescents and young women accounting for about half of such fatalities.
Globally, the World Health Organisation, WHO, and the United Nations advocate improved access to safe abortion services, citing public health and human rights considerations.
Therefore, Ajose maintained that ensuring women have access to accurate medical information does not amount to abandoning Christian convictions, adding that efforts to reduce preventable maternal deaths do not diminish the value Christians place on unborn life.
A statement written on behalf of the organisation by Oghosayemi Dudu lamented that within many Christian communities, the issue is often viewed as settled.
Dudu stated: “Human life is sacred, and abortion is seen as morally wrong. For many believers, there is little room for debate. Yet beyond our churches, another reality continues to unfold quietly. Women experience pregnancies resulting from rape, incest, severe fetal abnormalities, intimate partner violence, life-threatening medical complications and economic hardship. Some continue those pregnancies. Others seek abortions – often in unsafe conditions. Too many suffer in silence because they fear judgment long before they seek help.
“Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that our national conversation assumes Nigerians are hopelessly divided on this issue. The evidence suggests otherwise. A 2025 opinion poll commissioned under the Pamoja Project, involving 1,200 adults across the six states of South-West Nigeria, found something remarkable: 32 per cent of Nigerians are neither firmly for nor firmly against abortion. They are persuadable, not because they lack values, but because they are open to compassionate, evidence-based conversations.
“That finding should reshape how Christians approach this conversation. The question is no longer whether faith and healthcare can coexist. The question is whether we are willing to meet in the middle. That middle ground begins with facts. The same study found that 37 per cent of respondents did not know that abortion is already legal in Nigeria when it is necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman. Even more concerning, 68 per cent said they do not know where to find credible sexual and reproductive health information. These are not simply knowledge gaps. They are public health risks.
“When women do not know their legal rights in life-threatening medical emergencies, delays in seeking care can become fatal. The study itself warns that this misunderstanding may lead women to believe they have no legal options when, in fact, the law permits medical intervention to save their lives. This is precisely why the abortion conversation cannot remain solely a moral argument.
“It is also a healthcare conversation. Nigeria continues to carry one of the world’s highest burdens of maternal mortality. According to the Pamoja findings, an estimated two million unsafe abortions occur every year in Nigeria, with many taking place “in silence, invisible to law, to data and often to families.” The consequences are measured not only in deaths, but also in infertility, long-term health complications and broken families.
“Christians should not find these realities uncomfortable because they challenge faith. They should find them unacceptable because they challenge compassion. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus consistently encountered people living in circumstances society considered morally complicated. The Samaritan woman. The woman caught in adultery. The lepers everyone avoided.”
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