A global pro-life group has criticised the recent government proposal to legalise abortion in Kenya.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, in a statement signed by its international secretary, Mr Dominic Baster, said abortion would not solve the problem of unplanned pregnancies and asked the government not be pressurised into legalising it.

Mr Baster said pressure was being exerted on Third World countries to accept abortion "under the guise of social and medical excuses".

The Kenya Family Health Programme report, prepared by a team appointed by the Health Standards and Regulatory Services Department, has elicited criticism from local and international pro-life advocates and religious groups.

The report, to be discussed at a national health services conference next month, is said to have been made in accordance with international trends.

However, Mr Baster said he doubted the claim "that legalisation of abortion is warranted by the so-called international trends towards elective abortion on request".

He said: "In countries where abortion has been legalised, statistics have shown that the problem enhances teenage pregnancies and endangers the lives of many of them who attempt to abort. Breast cancer, pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility and post-abortion trauma are just some of the disturbing physical and psychological effects of abortion."

In its part, the pro-abortion report says," We intend to end trauma of unwanted pregnancies and the seeking of unsafe backstreet abortionists."

But further argues the pro-life statement: "Instead of seeking the solution to unwanted pregnancies through propagating abortion, the government should research on the root causes of the problem such as poverty and moral decadence."

United Nations statistics indicate that, abortion on demand is only legal in 27 percent of countries worldwide, and virtually nowhere in Africa, the report further said.

The pro-life group said the Kenyan government has served as a beacon of truth to the Western nations where abortion is prevalent and where respect for sacredness of life is lacking.