Amnesty International Adds Access to Abortion to List of Human Rights

Vatican official calls on Catholics to withdraw support from the agency. Amnesty International responds, defending decision and claiming it never accepted Vatican financial support.

In a press release posted on their site, the worldwide agency said it had “recently incorporated a focus on selected aspects of abortion into its broader policy on sexual and reproductive rights,” while adding that “these additions do not promote abortion as a universal right and Amnesty International remains silent on the rights and wrongs of abortion." The statement was released in response to comments made by Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. "To selectively justify abortion, even in the cases of rape, is to define the innocent child within the womb as an enemy, a 'thing' that must be destroyed," Cardinal Martino said, according to a Reuters report. Martino urged “no more Catholic financing of Amnesty International after the organization’s pro-abortion about-turn." Although no claim of direct Vatican support was made by Cardinal Martino, the Amnesty International press release denies ever having “accepted funds from the Vatican”, according to Kate Gilmore, Executive Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International. Amnesty International was founded in 1961 by Peter Benenson, a convert to Roman Catholicism. Due to this fact Cardinal Renato accused Amnesty of "betraying its mission", adding that the agency had now "disqualified itself as a defender of human rights".