Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Sexual Laws Against 'Hit and Run' Irresponsibility

An article in the Catholic Peace Weekly's series on sex education, written by an authority on the subject, considers the issue of 'hit and run prevention'. Recently women groups are petitioning to abrogate the present law which makes abortion illegal and was publicized by the press but little notice was given in the media to a petition which received, in a short period of time, 200,000 signatures. Consequently few are familiar with the movement within society. 

How long should a mother suffer from social prejudice and economic poverty because of the irresponsibility of the father? He presents the Hit and Run, Protection Act of Denmark. In Denmark, a monthly payment of about 600 dollars would be given to a single mother for child support. The father is responsible but if he doesn't give the child support the mother notifies the city and the support money will be given to the mother and the money will be taken from the father's income.
 

The only way to avoid the payment is to not get involved in the society or leave Denmark permanently.  If a man denies the paternity a DNA test is made to determine the father. In Denmark, men are more careful than women about remaining unmarried. If the 'hit and run' prevention law is implemented in Korea, men will be more responsible in their actions. This is the first step in preventing problems of this type in the country.
 

The writer mentions how the petition began. It was taken from an interview written up in a newspaper.  A 17-year high school student mentioned in her Twitter account that when she knew she was pregnant she notified her boyfriend who told her the relationship was dead. She had no choice but to have an abortion. She had just two lines and a picture which was picked up in cyberspace and was the motivation for the petition.
 

Even those women who were for the abrogation for the law against abortion have shown approval for the 'Hit and Run Protection Act'. Many so-called pro-choice were supportive of the Protection Act for common sense showed that protection of life against abortion was recognized as possible and not ethical coercion. Even though the mainstream media did not help and the movement did not use a great deal of the media many netizens were sympathetic with the purpose of the petition and joined the other 200,000.
 

The response to the petition from the government left much to be desired according to the writer. They were responding positively to the support and raising the money given but seemed to ignore the law similar to one in Denmark. The petition was to hold the father of the child responsible by law and this was not responded to. The staff took a welfare approach towards the issue and was not seen as a justice issue. The 17 National Assembly discussed the issue but here against it was support of the unmarried mother and failed to pass.
 

Can we eradicate other sexual violence, ignoring the responsibility a man has to the girl or women they have made a mother? Sexual violence will not be solved without this issue being solved. It is a brutal violence, betrayal of a woman and passing the pain on to the children.
 

He concludes the article by asking women's organization to actively participate in the enactment of laws against sexual irresponsibility. The different political parties and women organization have not made much of the petition for the 'hit and run' prevention law. In the situation where abortion is forced due to socioeconomic reason, this law would help greatly. If women are to have genuine self-determination women's group should get behind the enactment of the 'hit and run law'.