I don't know about people's take on abortion generally, but I am of the opinion that nothing should be forced upon a woman - especially when it concerns child bearing issues, because these days, women are being put through so much torture and mistreatment and many of them are even unable to seek justice in relation to the unjust treatment endured by them.
Given this predicament, I'm of the take that women, just like their male counterpart, should be given the freedom of choice when deciding, if and when they would like to mother a child.
I surely understand religious sentiments concerning abortion and why it should never be encouraged in the first place but, often, I also feel that the time has now come for certain religious and even cultural practise, to move with time.
By expressly stating this, I don't mean to say that its time we discard age-old beliefs and tradition but rather adopt it in a manner through which it can be best applied in our daily life as how we lead it this very moment.
Many aspects of our daily life today is not how it is supposed to be, if we are to strictly go by the holy book of any religion...even I don't live the way a true-blue Hindu should but I don't think that makes me a lesser person in any way because I'm leading an existence today with a delicate combination of tradition and modern day living requirements.
So going back to the issue at hand, I fervently believe that women should have the freedom to choose about child bearing responsibility in extreme circumstances of abuse, rape, neglect, incest and much more.
Not allowing them to choose, especially under such milieu, is as good as going back in time of history, where women continued to be subservient to men and had no recourse of setting their life back on track after heart wrenching tragedies such as rape, incest, abuse and neglect, which could have occurred due to no fault at all on the part of the fairer sex.
So, by denying women the right to choose, we are only moving backwards and this is definitely a huge blow to global efforts towards promoting human rights and gender equality.
Sure, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion but I just feel that the move by the Vatican to categorically sum up and declare that no further aid should be channelled to Amnesty due to their selective stand in the issue of abortion, to say the least, is completely unjust.
Why should women, especially those who have been victimised and are enduring mental torture on top of everything else that has happened to them, be forced to pay the price for a lifetime?
Where and when will there be an end to this?
Vatican urges end to Amnesty aid
The Vatican has urged all Catholics to stop donating money to Amnesty International, accusing the human rights group of promoting abortion.
The Vatican also said it was suspending all financial aid to Amnesty over what it said was the group's recent change of policy on the issue.
Amnesty said it was not promoting abortion as a universal right.
But the group said that women had a right to choose, particularly in cases of rape or incest.
"No more financing of Amnesty International after the organisation's pro-abortion about-turn," said a statement from the Roman Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
'Misrepresented account'
The council's president, Cardinal Renato Martino, described abortion as "murder".
"And to justify it selectively, in the event of rape, that is to define an innocent child in the belly of its mother as an enemy, as 'something one can destroy'," the cardinal said.
Amnesty says it does not take any position on whether abortion is right or wrong.
But it defended its new position in support of abortion for women when their health is in danger or human rights are violated, especially in cases of rape or incest.
"We are saying broadly that to criminalise women's management of their sexual reproductive right is the wrong answer," Amnesty's deputy Secretary General Kate Gilmore told Reuters news agency.
"The Catholic Church, through a misrepresented account of our position on selective aspects of abortion, is placing in peril work on human rights," Ms Gilmore said.
Some 45 million unintended pregnancies are terminated around the world every year, the World Health Organisation says.
Nearly 70,000 women die annually from unsafe abortions, it says.
Source: bbc.co.uk
