Catholic bishops call for Amnesty boycott over abortion policy

A letter from bishops to 2,075 schools in England and Wales told them that continued membership of the human rights group was going to be "difficult".

The letter was also sent to 5,000 Catholic parishes to warn that it would no longer be morally acceptable to host church-based Amnesty groups.

The boycott, agreed this week at a bishops' meeting in Leeds, follows Amnesty's decision in August to abandon a neutral policy on abortion as part of its Stop Violence Against Women campaign.

It voted to "support the decriminalisation of abortion ... and to defend women's access to abortion, within reasonable gestational limits, when their health or human rights are in danger".

But the bishops' letter said: "We Catholics very much share the vision of Amnesty's original mandate, as well as its opposition to violence against women, and we acknowledge the vital work carried out by Amnesty over the years.

"However, any undermining of the fundamental right to life from its defenceless first beginnings is too important to be ignored."

Amnesty International was set up in 1961 by the Oxford lawyer Peter Benenson, a convert to Catholicism, to fight for the release of prisoners of conscience, for fair trials for political prisoners and for an end to torture, illtreatment, political killings, disappearances and the death penalty.

It has developed a huge churchbased support among its 1.8million members. There are Amnesty groups in more than 80 Catholic schools in this country.

The Rt Rev Michael Evans, the Bishop of East Anglia, quit Amnesty after 31 years of active membership in protest at the abortion policy.

"Many Catholic schools are involved with Amnesty International and they have been asking us if they can continue to be members," he said.

"I think there is a problem in belonging to Amnesty International. The new policy puts Catholic schools and parishes in a very difficult position."

Amnesty spokesman Mike Blakemore said its policies on sexual and reproductive rights enabled it to "confront grave human rights abuses".

He added: "There is more that unites Amnesty International and the Catholic Church than divides us."