Amnesty International is not “championing” abortion. “Amnesty International’s position is not for abortion as a right, but for women’s human rights to be free of fear, threat and coercion as they manage all consequences of rape and other grave human rights violations”

Not all women wish for abortion after conception by rape, but many do.
Rape is used as a method of subjugation during war in many parts of the world, an example being the Congo where the wars are fueled by our need for their minerals: gold, copper, diamonds and coltan. 80% of world sources of coltan are only found in this region, and is essential for the production of microchips used in every mobile phone and other electronic equipment.
The UN Development Fund for Women estimate that hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped, many have been gang-raped, since the conflict began over 10 years ago.
One of the Christmas cards sent from this church last month was to Justine Bihamba who coordinates a support group for victims of sexual violence.

Amnesty does not campaign for free access to abortion, although as a doctor I would support this. Women know if they are able to support a child or not, and where there is not safe access to abortion services many women die as a result of unsafe illegal abortions, as happened in this country before the law was changed in the 1960s. World wide it is estimated that 66,500 women die because of unsafe abortions, and half of these are in Africa.

I urge understanding and compassion for women who find they are pregnant, and cannot contemplate bringing a child into the world.
I believe the best remedy for reducing abortions here is to encourage children and young people to be creative and become confident in themselves, and respectful of others, so they are more likely to think through consequences of their life choices.