Its a sad, torrid tale: Rape, one of the worst, dastardly tools of human rights violation, particularly so when used as weapons of war, as in the recent case of the Darfur crisis and the Japanese Army's blatant use of "comfort women" during World War II.
Of course, the situation is worsened and horrendously multiplied for the raped woman who simply has no recourse to safe, medical abortions, no thanks to the Vatican's ongoing campaign of outright stupidity that equates abortion with murder. Save the fetus, so the argument goes. The fetus, as a multi-celled organism spawned by the assimilation of sperm by the female egg, apparently has more rights than the mother, who, even after being raped, has to undergo the torment and anguish of bearing the child of the man who violates her. While the poor victim has no say in her rape predicament, the very least the medical profession can do is to offer her after-morning pills or abortion to ease the pain.
Nay, says the archaic, oppressive Vatican, the head honcho of roughly a billion Catholics. The sanctity of the fetus far outweighs the rights and plight of the unwilling mother.
Amnesty Internationals' Pro-abortion Stance
With what seems to be one of the few pieces of heartening international news (forget the recent stocks market clash, Korean hostage crisis, etc), the Amnesty International has once again reaffirmed its support for providing abortion services for rape victims.
The fact that Amnesty International was founded in 1961 by British lawyer and Roman Catholic convert Peter Benenson, with the explicit support and blessings of the Vatican, did not spare the humane organization from Vatican inspired vitriol.
Consider the unnecessary vilification of Amnesty International by Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace: "If, in fact, Amnesty International persists in this course of action, individuals and Catholic organizations must withdraw their support because, in deciding to promote abortion rights, Amnesty International has betrayed its mission."
Has, according to the accusations of this good Cardinal, Amnesty International genuinely betrayed its true motto? A look at the Amnesty Internationals' introductory website says it all:
Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights.
AI’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the University Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards.
In pursuit of this vision, AI’s mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of the rights to physical and mental integrity, freedom of conscience and expression, and freedom from discrimination, within the context of its work to promote all human rights.
Apparently, Amnesty International has gotten it priorities right: Human rights, in this case, means that the rights of a woman takes precedence over that of fetuses. Besides taking up such noble causes, Amnesty International has often led campaigns against other blatant human rights abuses, such as state-sanctioned murder in the form of the death penalty, and the rights and plight of citizens caught in the dreadful crossfires of war.
Why Abortion Cannot Be Banned
The idea that banning abortion is an essentially life-saving ban is innocuous and downright abrasive: People who hold the lives of fetuses with more attached importance than the lives of the mothers ought to have their brains checked for explicit signs of faith-induced stupidity.
Every year, scores of women who undergo abortions under the knives of illegal surgeons die or suffer complications under the hands of these unlicensed doctors, no thanks to anti-abortion laws that limit or prohibit abortions outright.
The only success an abortion ban can achieve is murder: Murdering mothers who, for reasons best known to themselves, have been denied the basic human right to decide for themselves whether to terminate a pregnancy or abort it.
While religious morons can come up with divine purposes and reasonings to validate their anti-abortion stance, the reality is simple to understand: Deities don't go through rapes, nor do they have to wrestle with heart-wrenching, mortal decisions: Humans do. Deities can just fuck off.
The Vatican: The Ultimate Nemesis Against Human Rights
A Vatican Session of Ignorance, Bigotry & Irrational Thinking
The Vatican, in its stubborn insistence towards any form of birth control, has proven itself to be the ultimate nemesis against human rights. It also highlights the incredulous beliefs of the few old buggers in that silly, opulent enclave-cum-city-state (no thanks to the divine work of Mussolini, who managed to carve up a demon's liar in once-fascist Italy, whose evil will ultimately outlast his), and the idea that these geezers, plus a couple of nuns with their own missionary positions, can enthrall a billion members with their hysterical nonsense, simply beggars belief.
While AI is no doubt Catholic-inspired, I applaud Amnesty Internationals' stance with regards to the abortion issue. By deviating from the Vatican's demented rhetorics with regards to the sanctity of fetuses, the Amnesty International has lived up to its reputation. Common Sense, it seems, has prevailed in this case.
After all, we cannot expect people to hold on to arcane ideas about women being the instigator of the Original Sin, the temptress who deserves to bear the pains of child-bearing irregardless of the situation at hand.
2 comments:
Christian women need to stand up for themselves. It's disgusting to me how they allow themselves to be treated as second class citizens in this day & age. You might think we were still living in BIBLE times...
Don't think it's going to happen any time soon, I>t. At my neice's wedding, her father - my brother - who is a christian fundie, got up and made a speech saying that she should ignore "equal rights" rubbish and do what the bible says, obey her husband.
Needless to say I was disgusted.
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