NAIROBI (RNS/ENI) Roman Catholic bishops in Kenya are worried that a new clause in the country’s draft constitution could secretly make abortion legal by stating that life begins at birth instead of conception.

“… (A)t this moment when the people of Kenya are looking forward to a new constitution, those entrusted with the task are removing the only one basic pillar, and the cornerstone that the entire constitution hangs on: the inviolable sanctity of life,” Bishop Philip Sulumeti, vice-chairperson of the Kenya Episcopal Conference, said on behalf of 25 Catholic bishops.

Currently, abortion is illegal in Kenya and only permitted when two doctors confirm that a pregnancy threatens a woman’s life.

“When it comes to abortion, we are dealing with murder. The one eliminated is a human being from the very beginning of life,” the bishop said.

The criticism comes as abortion-rights groups have stepped up their efforts for abortion to be legalized in Kenya; supporters argue that hundreds of women and girls could be saved by lawful abortions.

At the same time, some Kenyan church leaders fear that another clause in the proposed constitution amounts to a ploy to introduce Islamic Sharia law in Kenya by allowing select courts to settle disputes using Islamic law, or Sharia.

“It is possible to think Christians are being sensational, but if you look ahead at the next 50 years, 100 years, or couple of centuries, when none of us is working on a new constitution, …. people will look back and ask: Were Christians so naive to allow this to happen?” said the Rev. Peter Karanja, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya.

Muslim leaders, meanwhile, are accusing church leaders of insincerity, saying the courts would protect Muslims’ religious rights, which they say are isolated by the current constitution.

“The current constitution and the draft are largely based on British Common Law, which borrows from Judeo-Christian laws and traditions …. The conduct of the state is Christian in nature,” Ibrahim Isaac, the secretary general of International Da’awah Resource Centre, told journalists on 2 February in Nairobi. “No (Sharia) courts. No constitution.”