Amnesty International backs access to abortion in some circumstances

Published: 2007-05-11

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The International Executive Committee of Amnesty International has declared that a woman should have full, legal access to abortion in cases of rape or incest or if her life or health is at grave risk. The new policy calls for eliminating criminal penalties for anyone who provides an abortion or obtains one. Last fall, when Amnesty was considering such a policy, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warned that the human rights advocacy group would risk its "well-deserved moral credibility" if it abandoned its neutral stance on abortion. "To abandon this long-held position would be a tragic mistake, dividing human rights advocates and diverting Amnesty International from its central and urgent mission of defending human rights as outlined in the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights," wrote the USCCB president, Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., in a letter last September to the organization's secretary-general, Irene Khan.

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