Amnesty International Affirms New Abortion Policy Despite Opposition From Catholic, Conservative Leaders

Amnesty International on Friday affirmed a policy that supports a woman's right to have an abortion under certain circumstances despite opposition from Roman Catholic and conservative leaders worldwide, BBC News reports (Pigott, BBC News, 8/18). The organization at the end of its biennial meeting in Mexico City said it would work to "support the decriminalization of abortion, to ensure women have access to health care when complications arise from abortion and to defend women's access to abortion ... when their health or human rights are in danger" (Reuters, 8/17). According to London's Times, the new policy is automatically binding for Amnesty's members in each member country, including where abortion is illegal (Caldwell/Syal, Times, 8/21).

According to the policy, safe abortions should be available to women in cases of rape or incest, or when the health or life of a pregnant woman is at risk. Amnesty Senior Policy and Campaigns Director Widney Brown has said the policy is part of the group's global campaign to stop violence against women. The policy does not acknowledge abortion as a "fundamental right" for women, and the organization supports the right of states to put "reasonable limitations" on abortion providers and to prosecute those who risk women's lives by performing unsafe abortions, according to Brown.

Reaction
Critics have said that Amnesty has abandoned its principles by changing its previously neutral position on abortion (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/30). Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's justice and peace department, in June called on Roman Catholics and Catholic organizations to withhold contributions to Amnesty because of the policy. Noeleen Hartigan, program director for Amnesty International Irish Section, said the affiliate recently decided to effectively opt out of the policy and will not participate in Amnesty's abortion-related campaigns (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/30).

Michael Evans, Roman Catholic bishop of East Anglia in England, has ended his membership with Amnesty after the group affirmed its support for the new policy, his office confirmed Tuesday, AFP/Yahoo! News reports (AFP/Yahoo! News, 8/21). Evans, who wrote a prayer for the Amnesty's "protect the human" campaign, in a statement on his Web site said, "Very regretfully, I will be ending my 31-year membership of Amnesty International" (Kelland, Reuters, 8/21). "Appalling violence must not be answered by violence against the most vulnerable and defenseless form of human life in a woman's womb," Evans said, adding, "There is no human right to access to abortion, and Amnesty should not involve itself even in such extreme cases."














Kate Gilmore, Amnesty's executive deputy secretary-general, said the group simply supports "women's human rights to be free of fear, threat and coercion as they manage all consequences of rape and other grave human rights violations" (Times, 8/21). Suzanne Trimmel, spokesperson for Amnesty International USA, said that a "handful" -- probably fewer than 200 -- of the chapter's 400,000 members have quit because of the policy change (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/30). According to BBC News, Amnesty's international council "overwhelmingly" supported the policy change (BBC News, 8/18).

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