Scottish cardinal resigns from Amnesty to protest its abortion policy

Published: 2007-08-28

LONDON (CNS) -- A Scottish cardinal has announced his resignation from Amnesty International to protest the group's new policy to fight for the decriminalization of abortion around the world. Cardinal Keith O'Brien of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh said it was with "great sadness" that he quit an organization he joined as a student more than 40 years ago. He said he was no longer able to support the human rights group in good conscience after it voted at a mid-August meeting in Mexico to fight for abortion rights. "That basic and most fundamental of all human rights, the right to life, is recognized by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the document upon which Amnesty International was founded," Cardinal O'Brien said in an Aug. 28 letter to John Watson, program director of Amnesty in Scotland. "Sadly, now Amnesty International seems to be placing itself at the forefront of a campaign for a universal right to abortion in contravention to that basic right to human life." He added: "For me it is a matter of conscience that I have decided to resign from Amnesty International. Others must follow their own consciences."

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