Amnesty's new stand

Political parties, religious denominations, labor unions and international organizations have slowly succumbed to a pro-abortion strategy to marginalize the most defenseless citizens of all in the name of those who are also suppressed, disenfranchised or discriminated against.

This spring came word that Amnesty International (AI), a well-known human-rights organization that not only has remained neutral on abortion, but has decried forced abortions in China, has now come out in support of abortion "rights."

How this unfolded was a classic bit of cultural warfare. AI was founded in Britain by a Catholic lawyer in 1961. It has won the Nobel Peace Prize and has garnered an international reputation for defending some of the planet's most persecuted individuals and groups. It has used its bully pulpit well and has managed to attract a great deal of international support, especially from religious groups.

On abortion, it held a neutral position: "AI takes no position on whether or not women have a right to choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies; there is no generally accepted right to abortion in international human-rights law."

But pressure to change its stance on abortion has been growing for years, and in 2005 word began to circulate that AI was looking to change its position of neutrality. Advocates were pressing AI to reverse this policy and support abortion rights.

In a classic case of doublespeak, a Canadian advocate for the new policy argued: "We're not saying with this proposal that abortion on demand is a woman's right, but we are saying a woman's human rights are violated if she is imprisoned or otherwise punished for seeking an abortion or helping someone else have one."

This past April the human-rights organization has adopted the new policy, claiming that it was a justified response to a "pandemic of violence against women."

Pro-life and religious groups have criticized the development, and Cardinal Renato Martino of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace told the National Catholic Register recently that Catholic organizations and individuals should withhold donations to the organization.

We second Cardinal Martino's call.

The United States and other governments should take more aggressive stands against those groups or nations that endorse violence against women or that use rape as a weapon of intimidation and oppression, as in Darfur.

But to make the unborn child the second victim of the violence against women is wrong, and AI's decision is lethally misguided. Endorsing the death sentence for one on behalf of another is the kind of totalitarian thinking that would normally be condemned by AI.

We encourage Catholics to make their complaints known to AI (www.amnesty.org) and to withhold their financial support, at least until the August international meeting of AI in Mexico City, when the organization has an opportunity to review its policy. Should AI continue on this terrible path, perhaps it will be time for another Catholic lawyer to start another organization to pick up AI's torch, aggressively defending the weak and defenseless - in the Middle East, in China, in Sudan and Ethiopia, on the world's death rows, and in the womb.

Contact

Our Sunday Visitor
http://www.osv.com ,
- ,

Email

Keywords

More Catholic PRWire

Showing 1 - 50 of 4,716

• « Prev
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• Next »

A Recession Antidote
Randy Hain

Monaco & The Vatican: Monaco's Grace Kelly Exhibit to Rome--A Review of Monegasque-Holy See Diplomatic History
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.

The Why of Jesus' Death: A Pauline Perspective
Jerom Paul

A Royal Betrayal: Catholic Monaco Liberalizes Abortion
Dna. Maria St.Catherine De Grace Sharpe, t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.

Embrace every moment as sacred time
Mary Regina Morrell

My Dad
JoMarie Grinkiewicz

Letting go is simple wisdom with divine potential
Mary Regina Morrell

Father Lombardi's Address on Catholic Media
Catholic Online

Pope's Words to Pontifical Latin American College
Catholic Online

Prelate: Genetics Needs a Conscience
Catholic Online

State Aid for Catholic Schools: Help or Hindrance?
Catholic Online

Scorsese Planning Movie on Japanese Martyrs
Catholic Online

2 Nuns Kidnapped in Kenya Set Free
Catholic Online

Holy See-Israel Negotiation Moves Forward
Catholic Online

Franchising to Evangelize
Catholic Online

Catholics Decry Anti-Christianity in Israel
Catholic Online

Pope and Gordon Brown Meet About Development Aid
Catholic Online

Pontiff Backs Latin America's Continental Mission
Catholic Online

Cardinal Warns Against Anti-Catholic Education
Catholic Online

Full Circle
Robert Gieb

Three words to a deeper faith
Paul Sposite

Relections for Lent 2009
chris anthony

Wisdom lies beyond the surface of life
Mary Regina Morrell

World Food Program Director on Lent
Catholic Online

Moral Clarity
DAN SHEA

Pope's Lenten Message for 2009
Catholic Online

A Prayer for Monaco: Remembering the Faith Legacy of Prince Rainier III & Princess Grace and Contemplating the Moral Challenges of Prince Albert II
Dna. Maria St. Catherine Sharpe

Keeping a Lid on Permissiveness
Sally Connolly

Glimpse of Me
Sarah Reinhard

The 3 stages of life
Michele Szekely

Sex and the Married Woman
Cheryl Dickow

A Catholic Woman Returns to the Church
Cheryl Dickow

Modernity & Morality
Dan Shea

Just a Minute
Sarah Reinhard

Catholic identity ... triumphant reemergence!
Hugh McNichol

Edging God Out
Paul Sposite

Burying a St. Joseph Statue
Cheryl Dickow

George Bush Speaks on Papal Visit
Catholic Online

Sometimes moving forward means moving the canoe
Mary Regina Morrell

Action Changes Things: Teaching our Kids about Community Service
Lisa Hendey

Easter... A Way of Life
Paul Spoisite

Papal initiative...peace and harmony!
Hugh McNichol

Proclaim the mysteries of the Resurrection!
Hugh McNichol

Jerusalem Patriarch's Easter Message
Catholic Online

Good Friday Sermon of Father Cantalamessa
Catholic Online

Papal Address at the End of the Way of the Cross
Catholic Online

Cardinal Zen's Meditations for Via Crucis
Catholic Online

Interview With Vatican Aide on Jewish-Catholic Relations
Catholic Online

Pope Benedict XVI On the Easter Triduum
Catholic Online

Holy Saturday...anticipation!
Hugh McNichol

• « Prev
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• Next »