Vatican critical of Amnesty International's stand on Abortion

VATICAN CITY, AUG. 20, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone says that Amnesty International's decision to support abortion is not the solution to violence against women.

"Even the life that is the result of violence should be saved," said the cardinal in an interview today with Vatican Radio.

"Even though they are persons in gestation, they are persons, they are human subjects, with all the dignity of a human being," he added.

"Certainly violence against women needs to be fought against," Cardinal Bertone affirmed, "[fighting] against this inhumane form of violence that is rape."

He added that it is "necessary that we all fight to defend the dignity of women, and of each woman."

But, the cardinal emphasized, "life cannot be eliminated as such, even though it is the result of violence."

Amnesty International announced in June that its current policy regarding abortion "is to support the decriminalization of abortion, to ensure women have access to health care when complications arise from abortion and to defend women's access to abortion, within reasonable gestational limits, when their health or human rights are in danger."