Amnesty and abortion

Continuing the theme of the last post. I posted on Amnesty International a while ago. Now it seems they've definitely decided to put up a 'No Catholics' sign in their window.

Note well where the zealotry is coming from here. The Bishop of East Anglia has been an AI member since 1976. He has plainly never demanded that the organization explicitly adopt a right-to-life stance, only that it should stay neutral and not exclude Catholics by forcing a right-to-abortion policy on them. And until recently it has had the good sense to reciprocate and meet Catholics half way.

Note the shrill and manipulative tones in which the career NGOcrat from AI insinuates that opponents of the new line - never mind if they are members of 31 years' standing - lack compassion for rape victims in Darfur. The hardest case is rolled out to emotionally blackmail opponents into endorsing what, as everyone knows from experience, is for all practical purposes (since, by definition, being denied an abortion places a woman's health 'in danger') an unrestricted 'woman's right to choose'.

Note that AI's response to the Vatican does not even acknowledge the existence of a belief that foetuses have the right to life.

And note that the 'we can't be expected to accommodate every religious group's dogmatic quirks' defence is not available to AI. As the Times points out, 'Amnesty was quick to criticise Danish publishers depicting Muhammad, despite being a defender of free speech'.

So this is an organization which will defend your right not to be offended by a cartoon, whilst it excludes those who defend the most fundamental right of all. It's time for a parting of the ways. Don't join it. Don't give it money. Do - somebody - set up an organization to do what it used to do so well - what its Catholic founder had in mind back in 1961.