RSSSEOUL (UCAN) — A Catholic hospital in South Korea is urging expectant mothers not to abort babies with congenital diseases because many cases can be cured after birth.
“When they learn that defects can be cured … many parents change their minds and do not abort,” says Agnes Che Je-hee.
“It is very important to get this message across,” said the coordinator nurse at the Catholic Congenital Disease Center at Seoul’s St. Mary Hospital.
St Mary’s is one of two hospitals in Seoul with facilities to treat congenital conditions. The other, Asan Medical Center treats heart problems, while St. Mary’s covers a wide variety of medical problems.
Che says her center has succeeded in persuading around 60-70 couples not to abort their babies since it opened on March 23, 2009.
“Our center aims to … get across to parents the message that the Catholic Church regards a fetus as a human being from the moment of its conception,” she explained.
The hospital has 1,200 beds and about 3,500 medical staff, making it the largest hospital in the country.
Staff tell women intending to abort their child because of congenital diseases that the congenital disease center can help with a long-term treatment plan after birth.
According to Che, defects are commonly discovered between the 20th and 25th weeks of pregnancy by an ultrasound examination.
Anxious mothers, after discovering that their fetus has congenital diseases, often abort it, even as late as seven months into the pregnancy, Che revealed.
The hospital has more than 30 obstetricians and pediatricians who work closely with each other to treat babies born with defects.
According to the Mother and Child Health Act, which regulates abortion, termination of a pregnancy is allowed in cases of rape or incest, if the fetus has certain genetic defects, or if the mother’s health is in danger.
However, some doctors around the country do perform abortions for patients who want it done for social and economic reasons.
According to Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs statistics, there were some 340,000 recorded cases of abortions in 2005. Of these, only 14,939 cases, about 4.4 percent, were categorized as “legal” abortions.
The local Church, however, estimates about 1.5 million babies are aborted annually.
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