- Conference
- 2008 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 22 October 2007
- Decision
- Carried
Conference welcomes the recent decision by Amnesty International to back abortion in cases of rape, incest or violence, or where the pregnancy jeopardises a women’s life or health. Conference sees this as a huge step forward for women’s rights worldwide, especially in areas of conflict where rape is used as a weapon of war or as a tool for ethnic cleansing.
Conference is disappointed in the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to Amnesty’s decision. While we recognise that the church has its own position on abortion, we view their call for members to withdraw support for Amnesty as potentially damaging to one of the world’s foremost human rights campaigning organisations, and consequently damaging to the global fight for human rights.
To argue that Amnesty has abandoned its commitment for human rights by taking this stance, as the Catholic Church has done, fails to recognise a woman’s right to her own bodily integrity, and her right to control over her own reproduction. By arguing that the right to life of the foetus effectively takes precedence over the woman’s, the church denies vulnerable women their most basic human right, the right to life.
Conference instructs the National Women’s Committee to:
1)Increase awareness of this issue within Unison’s internal and external structures.
2)Urge all regional councils and branches to affiliate to Amnesty and to write to Amnesty expressing their support for this decision
3)Write to Amnesty and express support of the National Women’s Committee and National Women’s Conference for this decision.