Yoojin Seo
On April 11th, 2019, the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled that banning abortion is unconstitutional. There were two laws regarding the South Korean abortion ban: criminal law article 269 and 270. Article 269 punished women who underwent an abortion, while article 270 punished doctors who terminated the pregnancies under illegal circumstances. The Constitutional Court of Korea ordered that both laws should be revised before 2021, or the laws would be discontinued without amendments. The Blue House and the National Assembly had over a year to draft an amendment and, hopefully, prepare for the implementation of abortion. Yet, the South Korean abortion ban was abolished without any kind of replacement as 2021 has arrived, and the administration was not yet prepared to release or implement related policies that would serve as new guidelines for abortion in 2021 and onwards.
There were no productive discussions among the executive branch or the legislative branch for a year since the Constitutional Court requested revisions of the aforementioned articles prior to their banning. The conversation regarding the abortion ban restarted when the current South Korean president and his cabinet announced a proposal for an amendment on last October 6th, two months before the complete abolition of the abortion ban. The proposal included controversial restrictions and was released without any prior notice or discussion.
The government proposal stated that abortion is allowed by week 14 of pregnancy, but women would still be punished for abortion. Under exceptions such as rape, incest, economical issues, and health problems, abortion is allowed until week 24 of pregnancy. After the 24th week, any form of intentional acts to terminate the pregnancy is completely illegal. The proposal also gives doctors the right to refuse to perform surgical abortion. The government’s proposal faced fierce opposition and failed to be an actual amendment, leading to over 100,000 people signing the national petition that criticizes the government proposal.
Several members of the National Assembly attempted to come up with alternatives. Yet multiple proposals for the amendment all failed, because the members could not agree on one amendment and most of the proposals did not receive proper attention. As neither the president and his cabinet nor the National Assembly could come up with an amendment, the abortion ban was eventually abolished without a proper replacement.
On February 12th, 2021, the South Korean Supreme Court concluded that a gynecologist who performs a surgical abortion is innocent. This case continued from 2013, and as the abortion ban was ruled unconstitutional in between, the gynecologist could avoid punishment. Although no women or doctors will be punished for abortion anymore, there are many problems ahead.
First, the cost and the time limit for abortion vary significantly according to each hospital. There is no reasonable rationale behind these differences. Creating a national standard would benefit women and ensure the safety of surgery. Second, doctors’ interest groups like the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology demand the right to refuse to perform surgical abortion. The organization also argues that the period women can have an abortion without any conditions should be limited to 10 weeks of pregnancy, and the abortion due to conditions like rape, incest, economical issues, and health problems should be within 22 weeks of pregnancy. The conflict between the government and doctors can hinder the adoption of the new policy and the education of medical persons. Finally, abortion should go through related law-making processes as well. For example, whether health insurance should cover abortion is another topic that needs to be discussed in the National Assembly.
Now, South Korean women can have an abortion without fearing any repercussions. Nevertheless, to fully implement abortion into the medical system, profound discussions and careful inspection of the current situation are necessary. The National Assembly should begin its legislative process as soon as possible and serve its role to meet the demand of the public.
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