Europe News
Vatican urges Amnesty International boycott over abortion stance
Jun 13, 2007, 13:19 GMT
Rome - A top Vatican official has called on Catholics to boycott Amnesty International (AI), a human rights group, because of its decision to assist raped women who seek an abortion.
'I believe that, if in fact Amnesty International persists in this course of action, individuals and Catholic organizations must withdraw their support, because, in deciding to promote abortion rights, AI has betrayed its mission,' Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was quoted as saying in an article published on Wednesday by the US-based National Catholic Register.
Martino's council promotes justice, peace, and human rights from the point of view of the Church.
His comments are the strongest yet by a top official in Rome and are likely to be backed by Pope Benedict XVI, who has repeatedly said life is sacred from its conception.
AI, which was founded by a British Catholic convert in 1961, used to be neutral on abortion but changed its stance in April, when it announced that it would promote access to abortion for women who are victims of rape or whose life and health might be threatened by pregnancy.
The shift has reportedly caused malcontent among many of its Catholic supporters around the world.
According to World Health Organization estimates quoted by the National Catholic Register, 68,000 women die each year as a result of unsafe abortions.
AI officials say many of these deaths could be avoided if abortion was decriminalised.
But Cardinal Martino said AI's argument that abortion can be justified in some cases is morally indefensible.
'The Church teaches that it is never justifiable to kill an innocent human life. Abortion is murder. 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. How can we say that killing a child in some cases is good and in other cases it is evil?' Martino told the Register.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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Why does the previous comment fail to attack the arguments made by the Cardinal and the Church and instead divert the question and 'poison the well'? One can not dismiss another person's arguments on any other grounds than showing their arguments to be false. To attack the Cardinal simply because he has a logical inference on the issue is to not attack his argument. I would like to see anyone challenge the sound logic of the Church's eloquent and timeless appeal to the human dignity of every person, including those in the womb. A society that kills its children before they are born is a society destined to die, for it has declared war on the most vulnerable and innocent human lives. A wrong does not make a right: good can not spring from evil. Killing an innocent human being to protect a woman's health is unjustified and a crime to the murdered child. It will not help a woman's conscience heal from the horrors of rape. To wickedly betray that deep bond between mother and child by making the mother a murderer and the child a victim is the worst thing any person can allow a woman to do.
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just wondering!Jun 13th, 2007 - 14:53:35
Do electricians have opinions on agriculture? Do IT people have a say in flying a plane? So how come guys who supposedly can't even have sex, and don't now crap about being a parent, come tell other people how to have sex and what to do when pregnant? Just go back to your church and leave normal people alone!
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