Bishop leaves Amnesty after 31 years over its stance on ‘abortion violence’
LONDON, 21 August: A senior Roman Catholic bishop in UK has resigned from Amnesty International in a row over the human rights groups new policy on abortion.
The Right Rev Michael Evans, the Bishop of East Anglia, stood down after 31 years in protest at support for abortion facilities in developing countries. His highly critical comments come as thousands of other Catholics who belong to Amnesty are considering resigning after the policy change at a meeting last week.
The organisations international committee voted to support the decriminalisation of abortion and womens access to legal and safe abortion facilities.
But Bishop Evans, 56, who recently composed a prayer that has been printed on postcards for an Amnesty campaign, said that Catholics would find it difficult to support a human rights group that advocated violence against unborn children.
– 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, he said.
The bishop added that the Catholic Church shared Amnestys strong commitment to opposing violence against women. – Appalling violence 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 even in such extreme cases, he noted.
Bishop Evans joined the group in 1976, a year after he was ordained a priest.
Amnesty International was set up in 1961 by a Catholic convert, the lawyer Peter Benenson, to fight for the release of prisoners of conscience and to press for fair trials for political prisoners.
Traditionally, the group has shied away from the issue of abortion. However, campaigners have argued successfully within Amnesty that abortion is a fundamental human right, particularly when rape is being used as a weapon of war, such as in the conflict in Darfur.
The bishops decision to leave the organisation comes two months after the Vatican urged Catholics to recon-sider their support for the group.
The Church, which regards abortion as murder and never justified, has urged Catholic organisations to withdraw their support for Amnesty over the policy.
Kilde: The Push Journal
