Protecting the rights of women: Kate Gilmore speaks

9 August 2007, 02:46PM

Kate Gilmore © AI

In an interview with The Human Rights Defender Kate Gilmore explains how Amnesty International's campaign to stop violence against women led to expansion of the policy on sexual and reproductive rights to incorporate selected aspects of abortion.

The Human Rights Defender (HRD): Why did Amnesty International decide to address the issue of sexual and reproductive rights?

Kate Gilmore: It comes from Amnesty International's work to stop violence against women. This is currently our most far- reaching and challenging campaign and it brings to us issues of human rights violations that are otherwise hidden, neglected or misunderstood. We find ourselves now engaging with critical questions around sexual autonomy, the right to physical and mental integrity, and in more recent days, issues associated with pregnancy.

HRD: Why do you think some people are uncomfortable about using the language of human rights when talking about sexual and reproductive health?

Kate Gilmore:In many cultures the inclination is to keep these issues behind closed doors. The problem is that for women and children in particular, the taboos that accompany sexuality and reproduction mean that different sorts of prisons are created, the prisons of violence that are built up under force of threat and coercion. So long as a blanket of silence is thrown over the worst things that can happen in sexual and reproductive rights then people who are subjected to those worst things are doubly disadvantaged.

HRD: The issue of abortion has received some media attention but sexual and reproductive rights are a lot broader than that. Can you give us some examples of projects Amnesty International might be able to take up under the sexual and reproductive rights policy?

Kate Gilmore:We've had a sexual and reproductive rights policy for many years. Its first core element, the right to enjoy one's sexuality without fear, force or coercion, has lead us to support the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as we've done for many years. The right to make informed choices about one's sexuality and reproduction has led us to oppose forced sterilisation and forced abortion and to promote access to family planning and sexual and reproductive health care.

The development of that sexual and reproductive rights policy to be more comprehensive and respond with greater relevance to the lived experience that is violence against women has seen us incorporate specific aspects of abortion. While the other elements of our sexual and reproductive rights policy have passed into being without comment, the minute you say the word abortion there are almost inevitably extremes of reaction that draw public attention to it.

HRD: Some people, particularly from the Catholic Church, have criticised Amnesty International's policy on selected aspects of abortion. How do we continue to work together with people who hold a different moral view from our policy?

Kate Gilmore:The great thing about human rights is that it is a broad tent that accommodates overlapping spaces with a broad church. In saying that, we are reminding ourselves that this is a secular project, not a sacred project. In that regard we expect, as has been the case in the past, that many people of many different faiths, religions and creeds will see sufficient overlap of interests to tolerate what will at times be points of disagreement and difference of view. Amnesty International has had a long-term friendship with Catholic schools and Catholic organisations despite our many differences.

It is our hope and our expectation that we will be able to continue to do that with people of the Catholic faith, recognising that ours is not a theological call but a call to law and to the rule of law; that we address the State rather than God; and that ultimately it is our mission to protect the believer, not the belief.

HRD: Why should women who are pregnant as a result of rape, in particular, be able to access abortion?

Kate Gilmore:If a woman is pregnant as a result of a human rights violation, at a minimum, no further human rights violation shall be perpetrated against her as a consequence. This means that without fear, force or coercion she should be placed in a circumstance where she is able to make a decision as to whether to continue that pregnancy or bring it to an end. We argue that women who are pregnant as a result of rape should be able to access safe and legal abortion within certain gestational limits, and we call on the state to ensure that the gestational limit is set where medical science believes it should be set. So it is certainly not the case that Amnesty International is arguing here for a right to abortion, even for the victim of rape. But we are saying that, without fear, force or coercion, a woman must be given the circumstances in which she is able to make a decision within gestational limits.

The second important point is that, from a human rights perspective, we have to see the woman as an agent in her own experience. We have to recognise the woman's own rights and we can't surrender those rights as being less important or having no importance in the course of the pregnancy. This is why, when it comes to rape and incest, or where her life or health is at grave risk, Amnesty International must regard the woman as morally competent to make a choice for herself and for that pregnancy. It is at the point of that choice where her religious faith will come into play and we will defend the right of the Catholic faith to address her moral framework at that time and elsewhere.

HRD: Cardinal Martino (head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace) has said Vatican funding for Amnesty International will cease and called on Catholics and Catholic schools to withdraw their support for Amnesty International. How will this affect the organisation?

Kate Gilmore:Amnesty International has not received funding from the Vatican or any other state for the purposes of undertaking human rights work, but we do receive regular donations from Catholic organisations and people of the Catholic faith. The evidence we have from our branches around the world says that, of those people who have a view in regard to being Catholic and being supportive of Amnesty International, about 70 per cent are likely to say, "I can be active and sincere in both identities. However, it will be a source of great sorrow if we find ourselves in a situation where the Catholic education system actively deprives young people of exposure to opportunities to engage in the promotion and defence of human rights.

HRD: Some opponents of Amnesty International's policy on sexual and reproductive rights say that it is contrary to Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -"Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person".

Kate Gilmore:To say this is to misunderstand our position on abortion and two examples convey why we cannot support this opinion. Under the constitution of El Salvador life begins at the point of conception. The consequence is that a woman who has an ectopic pregnancy, where the fertilised egg starts to embed itself in the wall of the fallopian tube and no viable pregnancy can occur, can find herself denied medical care and may die as a result. Preventable maternal deaths around the world show how frequently women find pregnancy a death sentence. Amnesty International has to respond to pregnancy in those terms, both as a life-giving experience - hence we protect the foetus through advocacy for gestational rights - but also as a death- threatening experience, and hence our concern when women are denied their moral decision-making when pregnancy is threatening their physical wellbeing.

Another example is from Mexico, where a nine-year-old is pregnant as a result of rape by her uncle. For a nine-year-old to continue her pregnancy, in terms of her own skeletal structure, raises critical issues about the future of her own reproductive health. Which child should have first claim on life; the child that might be or the child that is? There are moral frameworks to make those decisions and we are arguing that individuals must be free within their own moral framework to make decisions in these dire, threatening and very tragic circumstances.

HRD: The media has made much of this change to Amnesty International's policy, as if the organisation has suddenly become pro-abortion. Can you put the change in perspective?

Kate Gilmore:In our communications we do make it clear that Amnesty International is not pro-abortion. We are not campaigning for abortion as a human right. On the contrary, we are very specific and restrictive in what we have to say about abortion because abortion is not our business, human rights are. Our stand is about violence against women, it is not about ending pregnancy.

HRD: Is there anything you'd like to say to Amnesty International Australia's supporters who may be reconsidering their position because of the change in policy?

Kate Gilmore:First of all we thank all our supporters. Secondly, to those supporters who may be reconsidering their position, we ask only that you do so with the full facts before you, and the media is not the best source. Talk to the movement's leadership in Australia and ensure that you are fully informed of the issues. Be assured that you are not obliged to campaign on this policy or campaign for use of this policy. Think about all our other work and about how pressing our human rights demands are globally, and think about why the Vatican is able to call for financial erosion of Amnesty International but hasn't asked people to stop paying taxes to states which provide abortion services and which have progressive laws on abortion.

Implications of the policy

Amnesty International's sexual and reproductive rights policy will now allow the organisation to call on governments to:

• Repeal laws that allow women to be charged, imprisoned or otherwise subjected to criminal penalties for seeking or having an abortion.
• Ensure that any woman who suffers complications from an abortion will have access to the medical services she needs, whether she obtained the abortion legally or not.
• Ensure access to abortion services to any woman who becomes pregnant as the result of rape or incest, or where a pregnancy poses a risk to a woman's life or a grave risk to her health.

This article was first published in the August/September 2007 issue of the Human Rights Defender, Amnesty International Australia's bi-monthly magazine.

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