SEOUL (UCAN): The Catholic Church in South Korea has toughened its opposition to legalising abortions, saying the right to choose makes sense only when the state helps women first make choices about childbirth.
South Korea’s 1953 Criminal Code made abortion illegal under most circumstances. The code was amended in 1973 to allow abortion in case of certain diseases or pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, or if the pregnancy threatens the woman’s health.
Church leaders have been up in arms against the government’s move to amend the code since April last year when the South Korean Constitutional Court ruled that an abortion ban was unconstitutional and asked the government to legalise abortions by the end of 2020.
An eight-member Catholic delegation led by Andrew Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung of Seoul, met with the country’s president, Moon Jae-in, on August 20 to voice their concerns.
