杏MAP导航

By LiCAS News

Bishop Moon Chang-woo of Jeju, president of the Committee for Family and Life of the Korean Bishops’ Conference, announced plans to expand the campaign to “reawaken the sense of the mission and vocation to protect life from its beginning to its natural end” and to “raise a prophetic cry.” 

He said the initiative seeks to restore the “inalienable respect for human life” to public debate and political action, according to a report by the Vatican’s .

The movement, conceived at the national level, aims to coordinate various regional initiatives, such as the “Project for Unborn Life,” which provides care and support to mothers in need, and “Life 31,” which promotes a “Culture of Life” through cultural activities and advocacy.

On August 26, Bishop Moon, accompanied by representatives of Catholic organizations including the Bishops’ Conference Bioethics Committee and the Catholic Bioethics Research Institute, met with the National Assembly’s Health Committee to discuss amendments to the Maternal and Child Health Act.

The bill, backed by 11 members of the Democratic Party of Korea, seeks to address legal gaps left by the 2019 Constitutional Court ruling that declared abortion unconstitutional. 

If adopted, the bishops warned, the amendment would permit abortions even when a fetus is viable outside the womb and remove restrictions on voluntary termination of pregnancy. The Church said such measures would allow “unrestricted abortion,” effectively depriving the fetus of its right to life.

Father Leo Oh Seok-jun, Secretary General of the Pro-Life Committee of the Archdiocese of Seoul, stressed the need for public education on the issue. 

“There have been many discussions on this issue in the past: We are against abortion, regardless of the gestational age,” he said. 

The priest said it is important to clearly and comprehensively explain the issue to the public “so that believers and all people of good will do not lose touch with the central value of life, namely the dignity of human life.”

The debate has also extended to end-of-life issues, as Bishop Ku Yoo-bi, Auxiliary Bishop of Seoul and president of the Bioethics Committee, addressed euthanasia and assisted suicide during an August 28 forum at the National Assembly.

“The increasing demand for euthanasia and assisted suicide today is due to the loss of hope for recovery,” Bishop Ku said. “When our society emphasizes only efficiency and productivity, caring for patients is viewed as a wasteful and useless activity, which leads to patients being driven to their deaths.”

He emphasized that society’s humanity is measured by how it cares for the sick and the weak, warning that neglecting or pressuring vulnerable patients toward death strips society of its moral foundation. 

He also cautioned against framing assisted suicide as an act of compassion, calling it a distortion of true care. 

For him, self-determination can only apply to the living and cannot outweigh the fundamental right to life, as death cannot be regarded as a right.

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