Cardinal Resigns from Amnesty International over Abortion Dispute

Via The Scotsman:

CARDINAL Keith O'Brien today announced he is to resign from Amnesty International following its decision to support women's right to abortion.

The leader of Scotland's Catholics wrote to the charity's director saying he made the decision with "great sadness" as the stance contravened the "basic right to human life". He joined as a student more than 40 years ago.

Background (via the Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report (8/21)):

Amnesty International on Friday affirmed a policy that supports a woman's right to have an abortion under certain circumstances despite opposition from Roman Catholic and conservative leaders worldwide, BBC News reports (Pigott, BBC News, 8/18). The organization at the end of its biennial meeting in Mexico City said it would work to "support the decriminalization of abortion, to ensure women have access to health care when complications arise from abortion and to defend women's access to abortion ... when their health or human rights are in danger" (Reuters, 8/17). According to London's Times, the new policy is automatically binding for Amnesty's members in each member country, including where abortion is illegal (Caldwell/Syal, Times, 8/21).