Posted on 07/13/2007 9:49:37 PM PDT by monomaniac
SEOUL, July 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On July 9 the Supreme Court of South Korea stated that a human fetus is not a human person until the morning that the mother goes into labor, JoongAng Daily reports.
The ruling was based on a case that took place in 2001 when a 37-year old pregnant woman gave birth to a stillborn baby two weeks overdue. When the woman experienced no labor pains at the natural time, she was advised by a midwife to wait past her delivery due date. They finally delivered the baby through Caesarean section, but the child had already died from brain damage. The mid-wife was charged with "negligent injury," and later "negligent homicide."
According to JoongAng, the court ruled that the child was separate from the mother's body, and therefore the midwife could not be charged with "negligent injury." She was also not guilty of "negligent homicide," for, as the final ruling stated, "The mother did not have labor pains, which is the beginning of childbirth, thus the unborn baby cannot be recognized as a human being."
The decision was in accordance with past court rulings in 1982 and 1998, which stated that an unborn child could only be ruled a person after labor begins. Commenting on the present legal position, Presiding Judge Park Si-hwan declared, "Right now, it is too early to change Korea's legal point of view that an unborn child is not a human being."
The ruling has raising an outcry from Catholics throughout the country, AsiaNews states. Fr. Lee Dong-ik, professor of medicine at the Catholic University of Korea and a member of the Bioethics Committee at the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea, called it an "extremely shocking and deplorable verdict." He said, "Every country has slightly different legal grounds on when to consider an unborn a human being, but no country has such a definitive ruling that an unborn baby is not a human being."
Calling the ruling a "social defeat", he continued, "We are living in an era in which a 21-week unborn child can be saved with an incubator. It is unacceptable to see a verdict where a 42-week unborn is not considered a human being".
Korea is in line with Canada and Germany's position that an unborn baby is not considered a human person. Abortion is illegal, however, with a punishment of up to one year in prison. In 2002 France also ruled that an unborn baby is not a human person.
At present, Canada has no legal punishment when the murder of a mother causes the death of her unborn child. In the United States, however, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA), declares that all children "in utero" are considered a second-and distinct-victim of violence in the case of the mother being injured. See Related LifeSiteNews Coverage:
Bobby Cutts Jr. Charged with Two Murders - Girlfriend and Unborn Child http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07062501.html
Woman Petitioning for Murder Charge in Death of Unborn Grandson is Harassed by Conservative Party Security
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05121906.html
France's Highest Court Rules Unborn Child Not a Living Person http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/jun/02062604.html
European Court Rules it's not Desirable or Possible to Determine if Unborn Child is a Person http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jul/04070803.html
Read JoonAng Daily report:
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2877847
Their opinion matters not.
ImaGraftedBranch.
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Yhose gigantic Korean Christian churches better get on the offensive and back their Catholic brothers up on protecting unborn children.
If not a human person, what is the unborn child? Tissue?
“Their opinion matters not.”
It does for them ... but I’m sure they would feel the same way about your opinion of their internal decisions.
ping
you are talking man to man.........God has already spoken on the matter.
So a kid born with a c-section is not human?
These pictures prove they are wrong:
http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/pictures_3.html
(abortion photos at link)
“you are talking man to man.........God has already spoken on the matter.”
so are you ... why bother ?
Korea's Birth Rate Hits All-Time Low
There are going to be a lot less Koreans around.
“There are going to be a lot less Koreans around.”
Nope according to your source there will be .15% more of them around ...
... so they only need to prepare by making sure they have .15 more schools, roads, hospitals etc.
...and from the amount of buiding going on over there it looks like they will exceed .15% capacity, so thier kids will have less crowded schools, housing, transportation etc.
So, how does this ruling occur? A "enlightened" liberal activist Korean judge "rescuing" the "old way", "oppressed" Koreans from their "backward" culture?
By saying that something "had died," aren't you admitting that it was previously alive?
The baby died on its own in the mother's womb; the midwife did not kill it.
However, she gave advice which may have resulted in the baby's death. If the mother had consulted a physician instead of the midwife (practicing medicine without a license?), the mother might have been able to save the baby by having it earlier through Caeserian section.
“However, she gave advice which may have resulted in the baby’s death. If the mother had consulted a physician instead of the midwife (practicing medicine without a license?), the mother might have been able to save the baby by having it earlier through Caeserian section.”
Or not....
Monday morning quarterbacking ?
Would you FORCE every woman to see the doctor you have obviously provided to everyone in the world ?
This case pushes a lot of hot-buttons, but there is no claim that the midwife caused intentional harm to anyone. The question is whether she, as a medical professional, negligently disregarded commonly accepted standards of care. The article does not speak to that.
This case did not make new law; it just didn’t change the standing law. It couldn’t. It’s the wrong case for it.
in the course of discussion on this thread last night,I received several freeper emails and folks........it was weird beyong measure..........now notice the subject is abortion............so I got this e mail........
“” he designed man to his own specification-do you really think he has a right to get pissed off when we act within the parameters he gave us? “
it got seriously more bizzare in the freep mail but this is their mindset...........
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