Catholic Believers Who Campaigned Against Lawmakers Proposing 'Abolition of Abortion Law' Were 'Shown Leniency'

Catholic believers who campaigned against the lawmakers who proposed the bill to abolish the abortion law were brought to trial but received a suspended sentence with a fine. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Nana Han] Catholic believers who conducted a campaign to defeat lawmakers who proposed the abolition of the abortion law received a suspended sentence with a fine.

On the 31st, the Incheon District Court announced that it had suspended the sentence of a 500,000 won fine each for four people including A (54, female), who were indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act.

A suspended sentence means postponing the sentencing for a certain period for minor crimes, and if there are no incidents during the suspension period of two years, the sentence is waived.

Earlier, A and others were indicted for attempting to negatively influence the election by using placards near a subway station in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, on March 26 and 27 last year before the general election, which read, "Justice Party 000 and 5 others who supported abortion, United Future Party 000, Open Democratic Party 000. Voting for them will ruin the country."

They are Catholic believers opposing abortion, and it is known that they conducted a campaign to defeat candidates in the general election after 10 lawmakers proposed partial amendments to the Criminal Act and Maternal and Child Health Act to abolish the abortion law in April 2019.

In court, A and others claimed, "We have been opposing abortion since the past," and "We only expressed our anti-abortion opinion strongly, and there was no intention to defeat specific candidates."

However, the court ruled, "The defendants did not simply express opposition to abortion or related amendment bills but used direct and specific expressions implying that votes should not be cast for lawmakers who proposed the bill."

It added, "The defendants confirmed that a certain lawmaker, the main proposer of the amendment bill, was running in Yeonsu-gu and selected the subway station in Yeonsu-gu as the protest site," and "It is objectively recognized that there was an intention to defeat specific candidates."

However, the court explained the reason for the suspended sentence, saying, "There was no intention to support or assist any particular party or candidate, and considering the number of times and duration the placards were displayed, the actual impact on the election was not significant."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.