Fast-track pregnancy

by Feòrag

Kenya: The police have been asked to investigate an evangelical cult which claims to provide miracle babies for infertile or post-menopausal women. A BBC documentary found that the divine miracle was more likely to be a dodgy human trafficking operation.

The programme investigated Archbishop Gilbert Deya, who heads a rapidly expanding evangelical movement said to number about 36,000 UK members in Britain.

He said he helps women who are unable to conceive naturally by proclaiming them pregnant - after an exorcism.

He then sends them to the backstreet clinics of Nairobi's slums where they apparently give birth.

Although pregnancy tests and ultra sound scans have shown no presence of a baby, women who have used his services claim they have displayed all the visible signs of being pregnant.

These 'pregnancies' last considerably less than the usual nine months, and the babies appear to have none of their mothers' DNA.

Inquiry call on 'miracle babies'—BBC News, 13th August 2004; also a piece on You and Yours, BBC Radio 4, 12th August 2004.