Report: Nigerian military carried out 10,000 forced abortions

A secret Nigerian military program has carried out at least 10,000 abortions since 2013, according to a new report from Reuters.

Transcript

00:00Soldiers came and took us. After that, they took us to Giwa barracks and they aborted our pregnancies.

00:06A new report by Reuters claims a secret Nigerian military program has carried out at least 10,000

00:11forced abortions in the country's northeast region since 2013. According to the Reuters

00:16witnesses and other documentation, many of the women and girls who received the secret abortions

00:20had been kidnapped and raped by members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

00:24They take the pregnant ones because they don't want them to give birth to children who will

00:28grow up with the blood of Boko Haram in their bodies. That's the reason why they give them

00:33abortions. The systematic abortions were reportedly performed based on beliefs held

00:37by the military in that region that the children of insurgents are predestined by the blood in

00:41their veins to one day take up arms against the Nigerian government and society, the investigation

00:47reads. The investigation also indicated most women received the abortion without giving consent and

00:52some did not even realize they were pregnant at the time. Military leaders in the country

00:55denied the existence of the abortion program.