|TOP|The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have issued an appeal to Amnesty International to maintain its neutral stance on abortion, following the charity’s proposals to change the position it has held since it was set up in 1961.

Amnesty is proposing at first to advocate a woman’s right to access to abortion in the case of rape, sexual assault, incest and risk to her life, and then to advocate a woman’s right to access to abortion in general.

Although the Catholic Church shares Amnesty’s concern for the most vulnerable, it does not believe that removing the rights of the unborn child is consistent with Amnesty’s core values.

The Bishop of East Anglia, the Right Reverend Michael Evans, a member of the charity, warned that Amnesty risked losing Catholic support of its vital work if the organisation proceeded with this proposal.

|AD|“It would be difficult for Catholics and many others to continue as members of an organisation which did not include the unborn child in its campaign to “Protect the Human,” said Bishop Evans.

In the statement from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference on Amnesty International, the church noted: “Any comprehensive campaign to ‘Protect the Human’ must include a solid commitment to protect the human rights of the unborn child, among the most defenceless of all humans.

Cherishing Life, a document published by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales in 2004, states, "Taking the life of a child in the womb is as unjust to the unborn child as taking the life of a new-born baby is to the infant.

“We do not believe that to support removing the rights of the unborn child is consistent with Amnesty’s core values. Such a policy change would, in the eyes of many, compromise Amnesty as a trusted advocate for human rights. Furthermore, such a decision would almost certainly divide its membership and undermine the vital work for which it was founded and for which it is justly renowned.”