Nigerian Military Ran Secret Mass Abortion Programme In The Northeast: Reuters

The Nigerian Military has been accused of running a program of forced abortions on female victims of Islamist militants Boko Haram in the West African Province according to international news agency Reuters.

The Reuters investigation published on Wednesday claims that the Nigerian military has been conducting a secret and illegal abortion program in the country's northeast since at least 2013, ending at least 10,000 pregnancies among women and girls.

Many of these women and girls had been kidnapped and raped by Islamist militants, it said, adding that those who resisted an abortion ran the risk of being beaten, held at gunpoint, or drugged into compliance.

The Reuters report said that among the expectant mothers were girls as young as 12 years old with some even eight months pregnant.

The report was based on the testimonies of 33 women and girls, five health workers, and nine security personnel who were allegedly involved in the program, as well as military documents and hospital records.

Four health workers interviewed by Reuters also said that the program was for the good of the women and any children they might have, as these children would face the stigma of being associated with an insurgent father otherwise.

The majority of abortions were done without the women's consent and some were done without their prior knowledge, according to Reuters. The abortions were conducted by giving the women abortion-inducing pills or injections that were passed off as medications to improve health or fight disease.

Nigerian officials, however, have denied reports of human rights abuses in the northeast of the country, saying that if such abuses were taking place, they would be impossible to hide from the multitude of international and local aid groups, including UN agencies, who are engaged in humanitarian efforts in the region, according to Reuters.

"Everybody has free access to what we're doing," said Major General Musa. "There is nothing hidden under the sun, nothing. Nobody has ever accused us of any of this. We have not done it. We will not do it. It is not in our character."

Matthias Schmale, the top U.N. official in Nigeria, told Reuters he was "at this moment not in a position to make public comments to the media on this sensitive and important matter."

The Nigerian army released a statement in response to the report, calling it "a body of insults on the Nigerian peoples and culture."

"Nigerian military personnel are raised, bred, and trained to protect lives," the statement said. "The Nigerian military will not contemplate such evil of running a systematic and illegal abortion program anywhere and anytime, and surely not on our soil."

The Nigerian foreign ministry did not respond to IB Times' email on the issue.