English bishop resigns from Amnesty after it adopts abortion policy

Published: 2007-08-20

LONDON (CNS) -- An English bishop has resigned from Amnesty International after the human rights group adopted a policy to fight for the decriminalization of abortion around the world. Bishop Michael Evans of East Anglia announced in an Aug. 18 statement that he was leaving Amnesty after 31 years of active membership to protest the abortion policy adopted at a meeting of Amnesty leaders in Cocoyoc, Mexico, Aug. 11-17. The organization's International Council -- more than 400 delegates from 75 countries -- approved the proposals as part of Amnesty's Stop Violence Against Women campaign. The council voted to "support the decriminalization of abortion, to ensure women have access to health care when complications arise from abortion, and to defend women's access to abortion, within reasonable gestational limits, when their health or human rights are in danger." But Bishop Evans said that the policy made it "very difficult for Catholics to remain members of Amnesty or to give it any financial support." "This regrettable decision will almost certainly divide Amnesty's membership and thereby undermine its vital work," he said. "Among all human rights, the right to life is fundamental." Bishop Evans was an Amnesty member for 31 years; in the 1980s, he served on the British Section Council and its Religious Bodies Liaison Panel.

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