The much touted Safe Motherhood bill which is yet to be enacted by Parliament has continued to generate heated debate in public domain, with religious and other right groups especially expressing their opposing views to it on religious and human right grounds respectively.

They insisted that if the President continues to push for the enactment of what they referred to as ‘infamous bill,” will definitely lead to his unpopularity among certain quarters of the population, thus will never escape the “sheered bad name.”

These groups have viewed the bill itself as an extension or modified version of the former “Abortion Bill” which was introduced in 2015 under the previous All People’s Congress regime of erstwhile President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma.

The Abortion bill like the current Safe Motherhood bill was popularly criticized and condemned for almost the same reasons which apparently led to the former president’s refusal to give his assent thus Parliament’s refusal to approve it.

Even though, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation has made some modifications on the bill over the years including its nomenclature, it has still not been spared public outcry as criticisms keep growing which has seemingly delayed its enactment much to the annoyance of its proponents who believed the issue would have long been done and dusted.

Even though President Bio like his predecessor has taken a closer look at the bill certain fair treatment has been given the document including wide range consultations, hence sending it back to Parliament for approval, it’s again going through thorough scrutiny at different committee stages for possible readjustment.

Advocates believe that if it fails to go through passage of Parliament like in the case of the Abortion Bill in 2015 which they believed added to former President Koroma’s fame; will also be same in President Bio’s case who they said will be remembered for one good reason.

They therefore urged him to follow the footsteps of his predecessor to save innocent unborn lives and to uphold religious principles they insist is the guiding steps for any good ruler.