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Amnesty chief rebuffs Catholic attack on abortion policy

The head of Amnesty International in the UK has condemned as "nonsensical" the Catholic church's attack on its decision to support abortion in the case of rape, incest or health emergencies.

In her first full interview since a senior Vatican cardinal called on Catholics worldwide to stop donating to the human rights body, Kate Allen defended the change, and revealed that only 222 of the organisation's quarter of a million British members have resigned as a result.

A further 105 have increased their donations in the wake of the claim last June by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, that Amnesty had "betrayed its mission" on human rights by abandoning its policy of neutrality on abortion in limited circumstances.

Allen also said she greatly regretted that eight schools in Northern Ireland have now closed or suspended their Amnesty groups following an instruction by the Catholic church in the province.

Last week more than 2,000 schools in England and Wales were also advised to sever their links with Amnesty in a letter from the Catholic bishops.

"I particularly regret that many of the young people involved in those groups [closed in Northern Ireland] had no say over that decision," Allen said.

There have also been high profile resignations of Catholic clergy from Amnesty, including the archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, and the Bishop of East Anglia, the Right Rev Michael Evans.

Full story at The Guardian.