Bullying bishop leads charge against Amnesty over abortion
The Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia has resigned from Amnesty International over the group’s decision to support abortion for women raped in war situations.
The Right Reverend Michael Evans, said he was ending his 31-year membership because he couldn’t support an organisation that backed “violence” against unborn children, whatever the circumstances.
“Among all human rights, the right to life is fundamental and this decision will almost certainly divide Amnesty’s membership and thereby undermine its vital work.” But he said that although the church supported Amnesty’s opposition to violence against women, that “must not be answered by violence against the most vulnerable and defenceless form of human life in a woman’s womb. There is no human right to access to abortion and Amnesty should not involve itself in such extreme cases,” the 56-year-old bishop said.
In June, the Vatican called on Catholics to abandon Amnesty and stop funding the human rights group saying that it was “promoting abortion”.
Amnesty spokesman Philippe Hensmans said of Evans’s resignation: “It’s really sad that somebody who’s been a militant for so many years is leaving Amnesty. The (policy) decision has been taken by the whole movement after a two-year debate in all sections in the world among members, believers and non-believers.”
There had been “a few” resignations since the new policy was adopted but “no big tide” of people leaving the organisation, he said.
In a statement, Amnesty said: “The matter of whether individuals, of any faith, agree with or oppose Amnesty International's policy on sexual and reproductive rights, which includes selected aspects on abortion, is for the individual to decide and should be respected. Amnesty International finds it unacceptable for women to be imprisoned for seeking or obtaining an abortion, or for women to be denied access to abortion services.
The group’s statement says that Amnesty International “does not promote abortion as a universal right and the organisation remains silent on the rights or wrongs of abortion.” However, the group confirmed the policy, “adopted in April this year, that aims to support the decriminalisation of abortion, to ensure women have access to health care when complications arise from abortion and to defend women's access to abortion — within reasonable gestational limits — when their health or life are in danger.”
Keith Porteous Wood, Executive Director of the National Secular Society – which is affiliated to Amnesty – said: “It is irresponsible and counterproductive for the Catholic Church to try to incite people to leave the organisation like this. Amnesty’s work in drawing attention to human rights abuses around the world has never been so important. I cannot understand how an organisation that trumpets its regard for justice like the Vatican does can behave in this petulant manner simply because there is one element of policy with which they disagree. It is up to all people of good will now to support Amnesty, both in principle and financially by joining. The Catholic Church’s dogmatic intransigence must not be permitted to damage ort even destroy such a vital organisation.”
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