Amnesty International Considering Proposals To Support Contraception Access, List Abortion In Some Cases As Human Right

Amnesty International as soon as next year could decide on proposals that would support legal access to contraception and access to abortion in cases of rape or to save the life of the woman, the AP/San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The proposals arose from the group's program to curb violence against women. The group said issues such as forced marriage of young girls and illegal abortions also are being discussed. As a result of the proposals, some abortion-rights opponents and Roman Catholic officials are threatening to drop their membership and donations. Amnesty, a Nobel Peace Prize winning human-rights group with more than 1.8 million members, was founded in 1961 by a Catholic lawyer in the United Kingdom, and religious groups "have long been a pillar of the organization," according to the AP/Union-Tribune. However, Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council Office for Justice and Peace, and other high-ranking Catholic officials have disparaged the abortion- and contraception-related proposals. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child, one of the U.K.'s largest antiabortion groups, has urged members not to support Amnesty if the proposals pass. "This is completely inconsistent with what Amnesty has been about," John-Henry Westen, board member of the Toronto-based Campaign Life Coalition, said, adding, "We consider this an attack on the rights of the unborn." According to the AP/Union-Tribune, a decision on the proposals could be reached at the group's next international meeting in Mexico in August 2007, but the group in a statement said "much depends on the outcomes" of debates among organization members around the world. The statement also says that Amnesty policy decisions "are rooted in human rights values, principles and standards" and the group "does not make policy according to the ebbs and flows of external pressure." High-ranking Amnesty officials were unavailable for comment (Murphy, AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 7/24).

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