Sydney archbishop applauds rejection of abortion bill

Jimmy Lai’s wife, Teresa (left), and retired Chinese Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun arrive at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts to attend Hong Kong activist publisher Lai’s national security trial in Hong Kong on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024. / Cred… […]

Seoul, South Korea, Apr 10, 2019 / 11:09 am (CNA).- A pro-life doctor in South Korea is asking the international community for prayers, as the country’s constituional court considers whether to overturn its national abortion ban April 11.

Around 1,000 South Koreans rallied April 6 at a March for Life in Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square ahead of the Constitutional Court ruling on the country’s abortion law, which currently prohibits abortion except in the case of rape, incest, genetic disease, or risk to the mother’s health.

“We have done our best to protect the life of fetuses. Now we can only pray for life,” Brother James Shin told CNA following the march.

Shin is a doctor and religious brother who provides medical care to the the poor and is active in South Korea’s pro-life movement.

Abortion advocates are calling on the court to allow abortions within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and to add social and economic reasons to the exceptions allowing for abortion further into pregnancy, Shin said.

At least six judges on Korea’s nine-member Constitutional Court, due to rule April 11, are needed to declare the current law unconstitutional.

The Archbishop of Seoul, Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soojung, has been an outspoken advocate for the protection of unborn life in South Korea’s national debates.

“Human dignity cannot be decided by majority vote or judged by socioeconomic standards,” Cardinal Yeom said at a Mass for Catholic congressmen last month.

The cardinal also called for an end to the death penalty in Korea. “Human life is the most important and fundamental gift, which is a source of all human rights. The death penalty is a serious insult and sin against everyone’s right to life,” he said.

Abortion is known to be common in South Korea, despite being against the country’s criminal code. Women obtaining an illicit procedure can be sentenced to a year in prison or a fine of under $2,000, while doctors can be jailed for up to two years, but the law is rarely enforced.

About 340,000 abortions are performed annually in South Korea, while 440,000 child births are reported, according to a 2012 study published in the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family.

“In high-income South Korea … safe but clandestine procedures are widely available, despite a fairly restrictive law,” said the Guttmacher Institute, which provides research and analysis to “advance sexual and reproductive health and rights,” in a 2018 report.

The current case being considered by Korea’s Constitutional Court was brought to court by an obstetrician prosecuted for performing 69 illegal abortions between 2013 and 2015.

At his confirmation last September, the Chief Justice of Korea’s Constitutional Court, Yoo Nam-seok, said, “I think we need to consider ways to allow women’s termination of pregnancies in early stages for social and economic reasons through consultations with doctors and professionals,” the Korea Herald reported.

Brother Shin characterized the current cultural atmosphere in South Korea as leaning towards “pro-choice.” He said that he wants to bring the movie “Unplanned” to Korea to raise awareness of the reality of abortion.

“We need people’s prayers for Korea,” he said.

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Cardinal Joseph Zen, former bishop of Hong Hong, attends the funeral Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Jan. 5, 2023, in St. Peter’s Square. / Credit: Diane Montagna

Rome Newsroom, Feb 1, 2023 / 09:02 am (CNA).

Cardinal Joseph Zen has been hospitalized in Hong Kong after his health deteriorated upon returning from Benedict XVI’s funeral in Rome.

The 91-year-old cardinal wrote on his blog on Jan. 31 that he is receiving treatment in the hospital after experiencing difficulty breathing.

Zen said that the doctors have already conducted many examinations and ruled out that he does not have a bacterial infection in his lungs as he experienced in 2016 when he was hospitalized for three weeks.

“You have not heard from me as I have been staying in the hospital. Please rest assured, Hong Kong’s most senior doctors are taking care of me,” he wrote.

The former bishop of Hong Kong revealed that he had already been experiencing some health difficulties before he received permission from a Hong Kong court to travel to Rome for the Jan. 5 funeral of Benedict XVI.

Despite having inflammation in his shoulders, an aching back, and numbness in his hands, Zen said that he felt that he “could not give up the opportunity” to be present at the funeral.

“The funeral of Pope Benedict was very important to me; and like a miracle, God allowed me to go to Rome to attend: The court approved, the police let me get back my passport; the airline just had a flight so that I could catch the funeral in time, therefore, I felt that I couldn’t give up this opportunity and decided to go,” he said.

“When I went to Rome, I felt that I represented the whole of Hong Kong and the whole of China, expressing our respect and love to Pope Benedict XVI.”

After his four-day trip to Rome, the cardinal spent 10 days resting in Hong Kong, but his health unexpectedly continued to deteriorate, worsening on the first day of Lunar New Year, Jan. 22.

Zen shared the update on his health in a blog post titled “Letter to Inmates.” The retired cardinal  has dedicated his time over the past 10 years to prison ministry in Hong Kong and has baptized several prisoners.

“Do not forget that we will never be separated in prayer,” he wrote to the inmates. “I will continue to pray for you, and please remember me in your prayers.”

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