A “morally bankrupt” senior Amnesty International director has said that conscientious objection to abortion is “unacceptable”. “It is difficult to see how Amnesty can ever recover from this”, says SPUC.
The executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, Stephen Bowen, has asserted that conscientious objection to abortion should not be allowed.
“The fact that some health care professionals are refusing to provide a health service on the basis of conscience is unacceptable”, said the human-rights lawyer.
Bowen was responding to an Amnesty report, “The State of the World’s Human Rights”, which reported that medical professionals refusing to participate in abortions in the Republic of Ireland “frequently invoked conscience clauses”.
Pro-abortion Amnesty International supports decriminalisation and states that human rights only “start at birth”.
However, Amnesty supports the right to conscientious objection to military service and has cited the UN Human Rights Committee’s defence of “conscientious objectors on the basis of the nature of their particular beliefs”.
Founded by Peter Benenson, a British Catholic convert, in 1961, Amnesty was neutral on abortion until 2007 when it adopted a new policy supporting limited abortion.
But the organisation declared in 2020 that “full decriminalization of abortion is essential to protect human rights” and called for “universal access to safe abortion and related care and information, in addition to full decriminalization”.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “Amnesty International’s startlingly hypocritical position on conscientious objection to abortion shows just how far it has fallen.
“Once a force for good, Amnesty now advocates for the slaughter of millions of unborn babies every year around the world. Seemingly not satisfied with this horrific advocation, this morally bankrupt organisation has now turned on those who object.
“We must presume that Amnesty necessarily backs the punishment of conscientious objectors to abortion, including loss of profession, which constitutes persecution on grounds of belief and religion.
“Amnesty has lost all remaining credibility to advance abortion ideology. How can it support the human rights of political prisoners while also advocating the punishment of conscientious objectors? It is difficult to see how Amnesty can ever recover from this shocking double standard.”
