Dear Members of the IEC:We read, with deep dismay and trepidation, your memo-circular of 5 April 2007 regarding your recommended policy statement on selected aspects of abortion (as amended at the Chairs Forum, 10th March 2007), and we take this venue to strongly protest its adoption and promotion.
Stripped of its euphemisms, your policy statement, in effect, urges all members of the global human community, in their individual capacity as sovereign states, through legislation, 1) to present abortion as an option in cases of unwanted/unplanned pregnancy; 2) to legalize the killing of unborn children, though conceding to certain “reasonable restrictions” by the state, like gestational limits; 3) to allow abortion without restrictions for “specific cases” like rape and incest; 4) to give mothers of aborted children access to medical services when complications arise. All these in the name of protecting women’s right to choice.
We are deeply disturbed with your policy statement because it contradicts and defeats the fundamental purpose for which Amnesty International had precisely been created, clearly reflected in your organization’s vision of “a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.” Even more seriously, we are fearful of its adoption because, coming from a highly-regarded international institution like Amnesty International, your policy statement will surely have grave repercussions on our common global fight against fundamental human rights violations...
Read the entirety of this superb letter to the International Executive Committee of Amnesty International from Pro-Life Philippines Foundation Chairwoman, Sr. Mary Pilar Verzosa, RGS. And then please consider contacting (even if it is the 2nd or 3rd time) Amnesty International yourself.
The mailing address is:
The International Executive Committee (IEC)
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
Peter Benenson House
1 Easton Street
London WCIX 0DW
United Kingdom
But you can also find the appropriate contact information for each country's local office (including e-mail addresses when available) at this web page.
