Rights group at odds with Vatican

MEXICO CITY, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- The international rights group Amnesty International is poised to defy the Roman Catholic Church by endorsing abortion rights for rape victims.

The group's leaders are meeting Mexico City this week, and the British newspaper, The Independent, said they were expected to endorse a board recommendation last April that abortion be a right for women who have been raped, or for whom birth would risk their lives.

Aware that the issue would likely result in a Vatican-ordered boycott of the organization by Catholics, Amnesty's deputy general secretary, Kate Gilmore said it had been a difficult decision that took two years to make.

"Ours is a movement dedicated to upholding human rights, not specific theologies," she said. "Our purpose invokes the law and the state, not God."

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace said there would be indeed be a boycott ordered, and said "Amnesty International has betrayed its mission," the report said.

The issue came up for debate in the rights group amid reports of mass rapes in Sudan's western Darfur region and women being denied abortions.