Building a Culture of Life

The Korean Bishops’ Conference issued a statement regarding the “Partial Amendment Bill to the Maternal and Child Health Act” and articulated the Church’s official pro-life stance, stating, “We must build a culture of life that saves both the unborn child and the pregnant woman.” The Korean Catholic Bishops’ Conference (chaired by Bishop Lee Yong-hoon) held its Spring General Assembly from the 9th to the 11th and declared its opposition to the current government’s moves to introduce “medication abortion” without amending the Criminal Code and to permit “late-term abortions.”

On the 11th, the bishops issued a statement proposing six specific measures: △ amending the Criminal Code to establish legal principles respecting life; △ mandating a reflection period and counseling; △ protecting hospitals that save lives; △ regulating the indiscriminate distribution of abortion drugs; △ strengthening men’s shared responsibility for pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing; and △ changing social structures and cultural perceptions that coerce women into choosing abortion.

In the statement, the bishops’ conference stated, “Without fundamental revisions to the Criminal Code, we cannot prevent the tragedy of a culture that devalues life becoming institutionalized,” and added, “For the sake of those struggling with the decision to have an abortion, we must actively utilize the existing ‘Crisis Pregnancy Support Centers’ to establish a system that supports a variety of options.” Furthermore, they stated, “The state must protect hospitals that refuse to perform abortions and institutionally designate ‘abortion-free hospitals’ to expand a culture of saving lives.”

They added, “Protecting life is a matter of safeguarding the dignity of the entire community,” and repeatedly urged the government and the National Assembly to strive for responsible legislative action. Abortion-related laws have been in a legislative vacuum for several years following the Constitutional Court’s 2019 ruling that the criminalization of abortion was unconstitutional.