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Last week, Amnesty Internal Executive Director Colm O’Gormon responded to an Irish Times column by Breda O’Brien wherein Ms. O’Brien asserted that abortion was not a human right and that we, as a society, could provide a better option for women than abortion.  

Mr. O’Gormon was offended by this idea and wrote in a letter to the Irish Times, “But women’s reproductive rights are not, as O’Brien suggests, so-called rights or less than genuine rights. They are rights clearly and precisely set out in an international human rights legal system created by states, including Ireland (not by us).”

 
O’Gormon omitted to include the exact text of these international treaties where a ‘right’ to abortion exists – because no such text exists.  The following day both Rev. Patrick Burke of Kilkenny and Padraig McCarthy of Sandyford both gave excellent responses to Amnesty’s claims.
 
Fr. Burke stated, “I do not know if he [O’Gorman] is distorting the situation or if he genuinely thinks support for his agenda dwells in places it does not; for there exists no such right.”  He added, “The right to life is, on the other hand, an acknowledged right and one which is recognised in our Constitution.”
 
Mr. McCarthy pointed out an obvious flaw in Mr. O’Gorman’s letter, “The only reference in Mr O’Gorman’s letter to the unborn child is in his quotation of the title of Breda O’Brien’s article, and a passing reference to foetal impairment. He concludes his letter, referring to women, ‘it is their bodies, their lives and their rights, after all’. This is true, but not the whole truth. It is true also of the children.”  Mr. McCarthy also made a very important point that it is important to remind the public.  He added, “We can do better, for both women and babies. There is a cost, human and economic. The way we investigate perinatal deaths is evidence that it is worthwhile.”
 
O’Gorman persisted in his argument that there is a right to abortion which trumps the right to life of innocent unborn babies.  He responded in another letter to the Irish Times where he claimed, “It is long past time to bring Ireland’s archaic and inhumane abortion law into line with its international human rights obligations. And it just so happens that the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland agree.”
 
However, Fr. Burke refused to give in to this pro-abortion spin and responded again to clarify the situation, stating, “It is odd that he does not actually quote any of the UN human rights treaties that he claims support his position. Perhaps that is because his argument consists of nothing more substantial than heavy-duty spin. He says, for example, that the rights to privacy and healthcare add up to a right to an abortion. That may be his interpretation, and that of those who share his views, but the texts contain nothing so explicit.”
 
Amnesty are increasingly being called out on their abortion spin. No ‘right’ to abortion exists in any international human rights treaty – but the right to life is always acknowledged.