Bishops of South Korea Appeal for the Unborn "Legalization of abortion is no different from public recognition of murder by the state." FULL TEXT
It has been two years since the ruling of South Korea’s Constitutional Court on the decriminalization of abortion. Therefore, the Committee of pro-life bishops has issued a statement.
We strongly urge the amendment of the Criminal Law to protect the lives of the unborn child!
Korean Bishops' - Family and Life Committee 2021-04-15
We strongly urge the amendment of the criminal law that protects the lives of the unborn child!
On April 11, 2019, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Korea ruled ``constitutional nonconformity'' for abortions specified in the Criminal Law, and decided to amend the laws related to abortion by December 31, 2020. Thus, the government and members of the National Assembly each proposed a bill to the National Assembly and urged the enactment of a new law. However, the National Assembly was caught in struggle and antagonism due to the gains and losses of political interests of the opposition parties, wasting time, and the abortion law amendment was not properly handled even by the Legislative Judicial Committee and passed the time limit for amendment to the law prescribed by the Constitutional Court. As a result, Korea is now in a state of unprecedented blank abortion law, with no new laws being revised and invalidation of the existing criminal law that stipulated the crime of abortion.
This situation in the country is causing confrontation and conflict between those who advocate the complete abolition of abortion crimes and those who are fundamentally opposed to abortion, and confuse health care workers as well. Millions of fetuses conceived each year are exposed to the threat of abortion without any protection, and how foolish is that the state neglects it and is concerned only with a declining population? Abortion, which is carried out without any sense of guilt, spreads the trend of neglecting life in our society. This will further promote and accelerate a culture of pathological death such as infanticide, child abuse, perpetual murder, and suicide, and a culture of anti-life leading to extreme egoism.
Accordingly, the Family and Life Committee of the Catholic Church of Korea is seriously concerned about the present reality and reaffirms the position of the church to legislative officials and citizens of the Republic of Korea as follows.
1. Fetal life must be respected and protected according to human dignity. It is a grave error to rule that the unborn child, a true human life, can be sacrificed in order to protect a woman's right to self-determination.
2. Legalization of abortion is no different from public recognition of murder by the state. The abolition of abortion violate the spirit of the Constitution that recognized the human rights of the unborn child, and contradicted the judgment of the Constitutional Court that recognized the public interest of'protecting the life of the unborn child'.
3. Korea cannot be happy by sacrificing a fetus. Therefore, I urge the National Assembly to legislate a bill to protect the life of the unborn child as soon as possible.
4. The Catholic Church in Korea declares that choosing life is the most valuable thing. Therefore, we will continue to carry out the movement to protect life to build a culture of life that respects not only the life of the unborn child, but also all lives.
Bishop Seong-hyo Lee, Chairman
of the Family and Life Committee of the Catholic Church of Korea on April 15, 2021
Source: Catholic Bishops Conference of South Korea:
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