Sin Should Be Called Sin

The Constitutional Court's ruling on the abortion-related provisions of Articles 269 and 270 of the Criminal Act is expected to be finalized at least as early as the first half of the year after the New Year holidays. You have those who want the abolition of abortion as a crime and the right for abortion on demand and the Catholic Church and the pro-life activists who want to keep the law as is. Great interest in what the Constitutional Court will decide when the pros and cons are so close in numbers. So begins the article in the Peace Column of the Catholic Peace Weekly.

Two of the reasons for demanding the abolition of abortion are: the self-determination of the woman's body. The fetus belongs to a woman's body, and a woman has a right to decide for her own body. The other is the pain and suffering of women due to unwanted pregnancy. Also the pain of unmarried mothers, the problem is not only the embarrassment from unfavorable glances around them but also the economic burden and mental and psychological suffering of child rearing.

But these claims are problematic. This is because the right to self-determination of the body is basically the right to cultivate and maintain its own body, not the right to damage its own body at will. The fetus is human life. It is also the weakest human life that can not live without relying on the mother. One should not accept the self-determination of one's body while undermining the right to life of the fetus. The problem would be different if the fetus was not human life but an unwanted lump.

The same is true of the pain that a mother or a parent must suffer from unwanted pregnancy. Removing the fetus to relieve the economic, psychological, and mental burden of unwanted pregnancy is no different from killing another human being to alleviate one's own suffering.

On the other hand, criticism of the Catholic church and pro-life activists who do not want to change the law on abortion is not insignificant. Pro-choice emphasize that pro-life people push for the dignity of life and repeat that abortion is a sin while ignoring the suffering and pain of those who are suffering from unwanted pregnancies. They point out that these arguments are merely theoretical positions without persuasiveness. It also accuses the church who should be a merciful mother as not willing to embrace women who are suffering. Of course, the church does have activities for the unwed mothers, but as the activities are relatively small, many sympathize with those who are looking for the repeal of the law against abortion and the numbers are large.

But it is not proper only to condemn those who are pro-choice but need to forgive and embrace them. We must distinguish between 'sin' and 'sinner'. If abortion is murder to kill the life of a fetus, it is definitely a sin. The Catholic Church sees the fetus as human life, and therefore regards abortion as a sin to be legally sanctioned. If we do not hate these sins, we will have more culture of death in our society. 

We need to take to heart the last words of Jesus in the story of a woman caught in adultery (John 8: 11-11). "I do not condemn you. Go. And from now on, do not sin again." The emphasis does not stop at "do not condemn" but added is "Do not sin again."

Sin should be called sin. Along with this, it is also necessary to create conditions that will decrease the numbers of abortions by increasing the conditions that will make it easier to carry the fetus to birth. To this end, both the church and society should cooperate and work together to achieve this goal.