154,000 people sign petition against Amnesty's abortion campaign

More than 154,000 people have signed a petition urging Amnesty International to stop pushing a pro-abortion agenda onto Ireland and El Salvador.

The human rights group has been campaigning to repeal the Eighth Amendment in Ireland's Constitution to loosen abortion laws, and also against Northern Ireland's laws, which still advocate that abortion can only take place when the mother's life is in danger.

The petition is on the Go Citizen platform and is organised by the Life Institute, an institute that advocates pro-life issues.

The petition states: "Amnesty International used to be one of the world’s leading human rights NGOs. The organisation did a lot to help political prisoners and prisoners of conscience all over the world.

“However, Amnesty’s policy shift towards promoting abortion now means that I, and many others, can no longer support your organisation because you are campaigning against the most fundamental human right, the right to life.

“Amnesty International has unfortunately become an organisation that no one who wishes to defend human rights can, in good conscience, support as an active member or as a donor,” the petition adds.

The organisation has courted controversy in its bid to legalise abortion in Ireland by bringing in celebrities to front its campaign.

Last month, Graham Linehan - who wrote the much loved comedy Father Ted - spoke out against the abortion laws. Mr Linehan’s wife Helen had an abortion in the UK when the couple found out that their son was diagnosed with a rare skull malformation that has a very poor prognosis.

Graham Linehan the creator of Father Ted and his wife, Helen (PA)

Mr Linehan also created a video, narrated by actor Liam Neeson, pictured above, calling on viewers to "repeal the Eighth", the 1983 amendment to the Irish constitution which "recognises the right to life of the unborn".

Detractors of the campaign video claim that rather than being an argument to repeal the right to life of the unborn statutes in Irish law it is instead an anti-Catholic propaganda video.

YOU CAN VIEW THE VIDEO BELOW...

Earlier, Amnesty’s campaign was condemned by nine obtstetricians, led by Professor John Bonnar, Professor Emeritus of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Trinity College Dublin.

The experts in pre-natal care wrote in a letter to The Irish Times that Amnesty had misrepresented the standard of practice in Ireland on the management of pregnancy loss.

It added that the claims from the organisation, founded in 1961 by Catholic convert Peter Benenson, were “unwarranted and unfounded”.

Meanwhile, Amnesty’s own petition to decriminalise abortion in Ireland has received just 48,000 signatures.