Cardinal Resigns From Amnesty Over Stance On Abortion

Cardinal Keith O’Brien has resigned his membership of Amnesty International following the decision by the organisation to support the provision of abortion services.

However, the human rights organisation hit back, claiming the Cardinal had “misrepresented” their stance on the matter.

Cardinal O’Brien said his decision was made with great sadness but claimed the organisation’s new stance “placed it in contravention to that basic right to human life”.

Cardinal O’Brien first joined Amnesty as a student more than 40 years ago and has supported it since then.

In a letter to the director of Amnesty International in Scotland, Cardinal O’Brien said: “The recent decision by the International Council of Amnesty International to support the decriminalisation of abortion and to defend women’s access to abortion has forced me to reconsider my membership of this noble organisation.

“Along with the Bishops of Scotland in 2001 in guidance ahead of the Scottish elections we stressed the commitment of the Catholic Church to life but we wanted to be clear what that meant. It was not something narrow but something wide and all encompassing. We believe in a consistent ethic of life. We are pro-life in the fullest sense of that term.”

John Watson, programme director of Amnesty International in Scotland, said he was sorry that Cardinal O’Brien had resigned from the organisation.

“I must, however, correct his assertion that Amnesty is placing itself at the forefront of a campaign for a universal right to abortion,” said Mr Watson.

“This misrepresents our repeated and clear statements on the issue. The policy which we openly and democratically agreed at our International Council Meeting explicitly does not promote abortion as a human right.

“It does call for abortion services to be available to any woman who becomes pregnant as the result of rape, sexual assault or incest, or where a pregnancy poses a grave risk to her health.

“Our position on the matter of abortion has been informed by our work in, for example, Darfur where rape is used systematically as a weapon of war. Rape victims who fall pregnant suffer their own personal trauma but are also rejected by their communities. These women must not be abandoned by the international community too.

“Amnesty International realises this is a controversial issue but hopes people of Catholic faith will respect that on the issue of sexual and reproductive rights Amnesty has a firm basis for its point of view and to respect this, even if it is in contrast to the official view of the Catholic Church.”