Amnesty International wants rights….for some

You have to be really vigilant these days about who and what you support. Because on the surface of it, a cause can be solidly just and humanitarian, while underneath it’s mission is creeping into unethical activity. That’s the case with Amnesty International, whose mission is “working to protect human rights worldwide.”

This argument about human rights protecting all humans, from the moment of conception when the human is in place, is getting old. To those who understand that as a biological fact, it’s stating the obvious. To those who either don’t get it, or don’t want to hear the logical reasoning that explains it, the issue remains an immovable wedge.

Now, it’s dividing two classic and compassionate friends in human rights work.

Abortion has driven a wedge between the Catholic Church and an organization that began as an ally.

Amnesty International (AI) was founded in 1961 by Peter Benenson, a British convert to Catholicism. But today, as a result of Amnesty International’s recent decision to promote abortion rights, Church leaders say that Catholics should withdraw all financial support from the London-based human-rights organization.

“I believe that, if in fact Amnesty International persists in this course of action, individuals and Catholic organizations must withdraw their support, because, in deciding to promote abortion rights, AI has betrayed its mission,” Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said in an e-mail interview.

The abortion policy has already cost Amnesty International the support of one long-time Catholic backer: Jesuit Father Daniel Berrigan.

Said Father Berrigan, “One cannot support an organization financially or even individually that is contravening something very serious in our ethic.”

Such a reaction from a human rights activist doesn’t surprise Cardinal Martino. Amnesty International “has betrayed all of its faithful supporters throughout the years,” he said, “both individuals and organizations, who have trusted AI for its integral mission of promoting and protecting human rights.”

The ethic of life is consistent. Human rights apply to all humans. Amnesty International has breached the trust of everyone who understands the truth, and unless they reverse this decision, they don’t deserve the support of true human rights activists. There are plenty of others who do.