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UK Amnesty International Head Calls Opposition to Abortion Policy "nonsensical"

By Steve Jalsevac

LONDON, November 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Since it officially called for international decriminalization of abortion last August, Amnesty International (AI) has received heavy criticism for betraying its mandate by acting against the human right to life of unborn children. The criticism appears to have had no effect upon the organization leadership according to an interview with AI's United Kingdom head Kate Allen in today's The Guardian. The Guardian report focuses solely on Catholic opposition to the Amnesty abortion policy.

Allen tells The Guardian she was "disappointed that the Catholic church has categorised us as a pro-abortion group. That ... simplifies things to a sense that I think is a bit nonsensical really." She defends Amnesty's new policy stating, "I absolutely think this was the right decision for the movement".

The UK Amnesty head claimed that only 222 of AI's 250,000 British members have resigned and that 105 members have increased their donations over the furor.

There is no mention in the article however about how many members have stopped donating or are declining to renew their memberships as a result of dissatisfaction with the organization's abortion policy.

Although Allen discounts the effect of opposition to the policy, her expressions of regret about the large number of Catholic schools that have abandoned AI appear to indicate the effect has been much larger than admitted.

Allen notes to The Guardian that more than 2,000 Catholic schools in England and Wales were advised by the bishops to end their relationship with Amnesty and eight schools in Northern Ireland have ended their Amnesty groups. It is also reported that 4 Catholic bishops have canceled their Amnesty memberships.

The Guardian has a history of strong anti-Catholic bias which would make the completeness or objectivity of its interview report suspect to some readers.

See previous Lifesitenews.com article:

BBC, NY Times and Guardian Appear to Have Stage-Managed Muslim Anti-Pope Hatred
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06091805.html

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