13753.
No, that’s not the latest figure for the stock index, but the number of legal
abortions done right here in Singapore in 1999, according to the Annual Report
2000 from the Ministry of Health. Yes, the Abortion Holocaust is still here with
us, and since the enactment of the Abortion Act by Parliament in 1970 (when
there were 1913 abortions), the number of abortions had increased steadily,
reaching a peak of 23512 sixteen years ago in 1985. Although the figures have
gradually declined since then, each procured abortion is one too many.
About 30 concerned
youths gathered at the Sentosa Holiday Chalet over the March 16-18 weekend to
discuss and learn more about pro-life issues, not only to be educated about the
horrors of abortion, but also to fully grasp the full meaning of human
sexuality.
The
Celebration of Life (COL) team, led by Family Life Society (FLS) full-time staff
Andrew Kong, organized the course targeting youths: pre-university students,
undergraduates and young working adults involved in youth ministry or catechism,
whether in the school, parish or in archdiocesan groups.
Almost
the whole range of pro-life topics were covered, including the respect of life
and sex, chastity, bioethics, natural law, Catholic teachings, cultivating the
Interior Life and even on communication, basic leadership and self-motivational
skills.
“The
family environment is the normal & usual place for forming children and
young people to consolidate and exercise the virtues of charity, temperance,
fortitude and chastity. Parents must find time to be with their children and
take time to talk with them. It is their most important task. Parents must be
models for their children, as good example and leadership of parents is
essential in strengthening the formation of young people in chastity.
Self-control is a necessary condition for being capable of self-giving. Young
people should be encouraged to have esteem for and to practise self-control and
restraint, to live in an orderly way, and to make personal sacrifices in a
spirit of love and self-respect and generosity towards others. The family is the
basic unit of society, as it is built on the institution of marriage. Therefore
sex is the language of love belonging in marriage.”Dr John Lim, MBBS, a veteran pro-life advocate for FLS, mentioned this in
his talk entitled, ‘Love Them Both’. “Do you know it is legal to have an
abortion in Singapore for up to 24 weeks? How can we say that the foetus is not
life? The fertilised ovum is complete. This single cell has a different genetic
make up from the mother. The mother provides only nutrients. The individual
grows and develops, and keeps on doing so even after he has transferred out of
the womb! This being is alive, human, sexed, intact and complete, a tiny boy or
girl from the time of fertilisation. There are no several versions of embryology
- only one set of facts!”
“In
any morally significant human action, the first question is not who is allowed
to choose to perform it, but is the action itself right or wrong? If no one has
a right to do wrong, then ‘Women do not have the right to choose to
abort’.” Dr Lim continued, “How about raped pregnancies? For every 1,000
forcible rapes, only 1 pregnancy results. So is she forced to choose abortion?
There are other considerations! What is her chief complaint usually? It is how
we treat her! Should we kill an innocent baby for his father’s crime? It is up
to us to ‘Love them both!’”
Talking
about sexual ethics, Mr Kong, who is also the Senatus Vice-President of the
Legion Of Mary (LOM), said, “Sex is distinguished from the other bodily
appetites: the sexual experience is essentially deeper, it has a greater moral
significance as sex is sacred, in and with sex, we ‘give’ ourselves, sex is
the ‘secret’ of the individual, which we instinctively hide from others, it
belongs to one’s innermost being, our attitude towards sex determines our
modesty, and therefore we must have an attitude of respect towards sex.”
“What
is the rationale for this discourse? It provides the framework for the values
underlining our sexual ethics, facilitates the task of sharing the values
convincingly, and assists in answering ‘tough’ questions by referring to
first principles.” For each human person, it is then imperative to know how to
determine what is right, and what is wrong. Mr Kong then gave the answer,
“Singapore is a multi-religious and cultural society, and with each religion
or culture having its own views, thus society governed by the rule of law
requires a common set of ethical rules. The only solution is to rely on natural
law ethics.”
When
defining bioethics,
Mr Kong said it is “the discipline dealing with the ethical implications
of both (a) biological research and (b) the applications of that research,
especially in medicine, inclusive of life sciences ethics and medical ethics.”
When determining ethics, Mr Kong said we should use natural law.
“What
is Natural Law? There are some basic human goods and values, discoverable by
reflection, experience, common sense and anthropology. We should not act
against, harm or undermine them, which is to avoid evil or bad acts. We then
should promote, respect and protect the goods, i.e., to do good acts. The
characteristics of Natural Law include: an objective standard, a higher law,
being natural as it is intrinsic to Man, universal, unchangeable. The
alternative moral systems, relativism, subjectivism, proportionalism,
consequentialism, utilitarianism and situation ethics have no moral absolutes!”
But
what’s is wrong with moral relativism? Mr Kong explains, “It is a
contradiction in saying one should not impose one’s moral view, like what
moral relativists are saying. Natural law ethics and relativism ethics are
mutually exclusive, as relativism ethics has no basis or standard for civil laws
or rules, no rule of law, no basis or standard for morality, therefore it has no
morality. The only rational choice is to reject relativism ethics and adopt
natural law ethics!”
So
what are the human goods that are the basis for natural law? “They perfect
human nature when we promote and respect them; they provide us with an objective
standard for what is right and wrong; they are the basic reasons for our
actions; and we have a natural inclination to them, e.g., life, beauty, truth,
friendship, peace, procreation, marriage, etc.” Mr Kong told the youths at the
chalet.
“The
first principles of Natural Law follow the first principle of practical
reasoning: ‘That good is to be done and evil avoided.’ The first
principle of moral choice is to act morally, one have to act in such a way that
all the basic human goods are respected and honoured, to have an integral human
fulfilment, for ‘the ends never justify the means’.” There is a
universal rule in which we can apply in every situation to determine whether the
action is good or bad, and Mr Kong explained it to be the ‘Principle of Double
Effect’. “1. The act itself must be good or morally indifferent, 2. The good
effect must not be attained by means of the bad effect, 3. The bad effect
although foreseeable, must not be intended, 4. There must be sufficient balance
between the good effect and the bad effect.”
Mr
John Ooi, also a veteran pro-life advocate with FLS, talked about the Church
teachings on sex. He mentioned that the dangerous current trends in the world
today, where especially in Singapore the emphasis on life sciences is becoming
prevalent, but the ethical issues are not resolved, as people desire for
‘immortality’ in this world. Abortion is freely available, contraception is
accepted and practiced, and there is a disdain for moral absolutes (rejecting
Natural Law). This ‘Culture of Death’, as termed by Pope John Paul II, had
prompted him to issue several encyclicals like Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel
of Life) in 1995 and Donum Vitae (Respect for Human Life and Dignity of
Procreation) in 1987.
Mr
Ooi said that the Church teaches about the ‘good of procreation’, where all
sexual acts should be in accord with this good. Also called the good of
children, it is one of the goods of marriage, and acts that undermine this good
include adultery, contraception, sterilization, IVF, premarital sex, homosexual
acts, masturbation, etc. Natural moral law is objective, universal and
unchangeable, where it prohibits always and without exceptions intrinsically
evil acts, e.g., the intentional killing of the innocent, infanticide, abortion,
euthanasia, suicide, adultery, fornication, rape, and intrinsically disordered
acts like masturbation, contraception, and homosexual acts. The Church also
believes in the basic human good of human life, where human life begins at
conception, which shows the evil of abortion, infanticide, in-vitro
fertilization (IVF), human cloning, embryo (incl. foetal stem cell) research and
eugenics.
“Sexual
intercourse has two inseparable aspects, the unitive and the procreative, i.e.,
sex is for bonding (love) and babies (life).” Mr Ooi reiterated this common
pro-life statement in his talks, and secular society often separates these two
to the detriment of the other aspect in the long run. As sexuality is a
fundamental element of human nature, all human sexual acts engages the entire
person: the physical, psychological & spiritual, thus sexual intercourse has
both the unitive and procreative meaning, making sexual pleasure licit and
proper only within marriage.
Mr
Stanis Benjamin, a professional communication skills trainer, has a unique
ability to 'connect' with his participants, motivating them through his natural
humour and his array of entertaining learning games to acquire practical skills
effectively. He had the whole room in laughter almost throughout his talk.
Relating about his speech impediment in his youth, he showed that he had almost
completely overcome that in his later years and even grown to become President
(1999) and even Area Governor (2000) of the Life Underwriter’s Association
Toastmasters Club! “Satisfaction to your speech is equal to your performance
over your audience’s expectation of you. Your performance is then equal to
your talent multiplied by your attitude and the opportunity given to you.” Mr
Benjamin also touched on the importance of managing our fears of public
speaking, where FEAR is the acronym of ‘False Experiences Appearing Real’,
and fear is Nature’s way of helping you protect yourself.
Mr
Patrick Oei, told the youths to look to role models for leadership and
self-motivation, and perhaps the greatest leader for us would be our Lord Jesus
Christ. He said ‘we must draw strength and follow the good examples of our
Lord, in his humility, charisma and wisdom’. Prayer is also extremely
important for motivating ourselves.
Jesuit
priest Fr Colin Tan celebrated his first ‘overseas’ Mass at the Sentosa
Holiday Chalet, where he told those gathered that when in this season of Lent,
repentance is important as with the fig tree in the Gospel reading (Luke
13:1-9), God will give us some time bear fruit, or else we will be ‘cut
down’ like the fig tree.
Kevin
Tan, 23, a NUS undergraduate teaching catechism at the Church of Our Lady of
Perpetual Succour (OLPS), commented, "It had been a very informative and
enriching 3 days in understanding not only on the Church’s teachings on the
issue of sexuality, but also in the discovery and formation of my own values and
ethics. True love waits and true love really waits. Issues such as
homosexuality, fornication and pornography that many youths of today are faced
with were explored and discussed in depth. Furthermore with my intent of working
with youths in the field of social work in future, I hope to share with them
what I’ve learnt. Hopefully, they too could see the value and sanctity of
God’s beautiful gift of life.”
Michelle
Wu, 22, of YouthWorks, the youth group of the Church of St Francis Xavier (SFX),
said, “It was an intensive 3 day course in applying the Christian values in
the various issues that the present society faces, such as abortion,
pornography, contraception etc. Also, I have learnt to draw a line between the
values of society and Christianity, which has formed an aspect of my morals and
values. Hopefully, I am able to share this with young adults one day.”
Please
visit the local pro-life web site at http://www.prolife.org.sg
or call FLS at 4880287 for more details.