MACAU (UCAN): Bishop Stephen Lee Bun-sang of Macau called on Catholics and people of other faiths to promote a culture of life and love to tackle abortion in the territory as the Diocese Macau premiered the 2019 pro-life American drama film Unplanned on May 14.
Unplanned is based on the 2011 memoir of Abby Johnson, a former clinic director of Planned Parenthood, the non-profit organisation that provides reproductive and abortion-related health services globally. Johnson quit the agency and became a leading anti-abortion activist.
The Cineteatro de Macau screened the film with support from the Macau Diocesan Media Centre, Association for Promoting Breastfeeding and Childcare in Macau and the Association for Support of Mentally Handicappped Persons in Macau, Portuguese-language Catholic weekly Jornal O’Clarim reported on May 20.
Bishop Lee said that by showing the film the diocese didn’t intend to promote or oppose anything but wanted to show “the truth about the clinical procedure of abortion.”
The bishop said, “The aim was not to disclose how the Catholic Church views abortion, but it was all about telling the truth, especially the truth about the [clinical] abortion procedure. I am totally against all form of violence and loss of lives. Life should not be destroyed in any way, no matter what.”
He lamented that many people agree that life should be protected but don’t think an embryo has a life. “If we say a fetus has no life, then we are denouncing basic anthropology—how a human life begins and develops,” he said.
Bishop Lee said feminism has promoted a misconception of “women’s rights”—that a woman can do whatever she wants with her body including the act of abortion.
“When there is a question of life, we cannot grapple with the question of right or wrong. We should put life at the foremost,” he said.
The bishop called on people in Macau, including schools, to reflect and promote a culture of life and love in all stages, from the embryo to natural death, with the message that “life is precious and life is love.”
In 2012, about 43 out of every 1,000 women in Macau had an abortion, The Lancet medical journal reported.
No official data is available on the current rate of abortion but media reports say it is still high.
