In a post on the First Things blog, Ryan T. Anderson examines and criticizes Amnesty International’s new policy supporting abortion rights, both because of the secrecy surrounding it and the demerits of its case. Regarding the latter, Anderson writes:

The current leadership thinks it [the new policy on abortion] follows with syllogistic rigor:

This policy follows Amnesty International’s long-standing human rights work on issues related to reproductive and sexual health, particularly in the context of our work to stop violence against women. Over many years, for example, we have opposed coerced abortion, sterilization and abortion for sex selection, demanded the prosecution of rape committed as a weapon of war and called for an end to female genital mutilation.

But couldn’t they see that abortion isn’t the solution to women’s problems but just one more problem to add to the list of evils to oppose? (At one point they say their new abortion policy will help the situation in Darfur; I fear it will simply add one more form of violence.) Has the message of Feminists for Life that “Women Deserve Better than Abortion” fallen on deaf ears? Have the stories told by the brave women of Silent No More and Rachel’s Vineyard gone ignored? Has the witness provided by the Sisters of Life—and the mothers they serve—been to no effect? Nothing I read on the AI site showed any indication of having wrestled with the possibility that abortion isn’t the answer women need but might actually be part of the problem.

Nor did I see anything about whether abortion was itself a violation of basic human rights. In fact, AI expressly ignores that question: “AI takes no position as to when life begins.” But how can a human-rights organization take no position on who is a human being? The question isn’t about speculative theology or mysticism; it’s readily apparent to anyone with high school knowledge of embryology and developmental biology. And for a human-rights organization simply to “take no position” undermines its entire mission. As First Things contributor Hadley Arkes argued so well in his Natural Rights and the Right to Choose, one embracing this logic is left in a most curious position: “He cannot vindicate then his own rights, and for the same reason, he is not in a position any longer to vindicate the rights of anyone else.”

Regardless of whether Hadley is right as a point of logic, he is certainly right as a point of fact. Amnesty International’s new abortion policy will strain—if not completely sever—the close ties it enjoys with many of the staunchest defenders of human rights: religious believers, in particular, the Roman Catholic Church. Though they hope to preempt such a conclusion—and gave their members just such a set of talking points—they are only kidding themselves:

Some religious believers consider abortion a violation of the right to life. International law is silent on the question of when life begins and Amnesty International takes no position on this question. The organization recognizes and respects the diversity of religious viewpoints on abortion and believes that one of its greatest strengths has been the solidarity forged among people of diverse beliefs who nonetheless share a commitment to ending human suffering. In this spirit, the organization’s leadership believes that its members and supporters can continue to collaborate on specific human rights issues without having to change or challenge their moral standpoint or views on issues such as abortion.

Amnesty International, of course, ultimately does take a position on the question of when life begins: Life does not begin—at least not in a way that merits the advocacy of Amnesty International—until after birth. The organization’s leadership deludes itself if it thinks its new support for an unlimited abortion license doesn’t undermine the solidarity once enjoyed among all those working to end human suffering. And that’s reason for all champions of human rights to be saddened by the “news” coming from Amnesty International today.