South Korea

Since 6 April, some 60 pro-choice activist groups have been rallying in central Seoul, as have some 40 anti-abortion groups. Although a large majority in a recent survey of 10,000 people supported legalising abortion, not everyone agreed. In 2017, a high school student told a rally in Seoul she had been forced to end her education after having an abortion. “My teacher told me if I don’t leave school, he’d report me to the legal … Continued

On 30 March, women’s rights activists took to the streets in central Seoul calling for the decriminalisation of abortion, a step that is necessary to protect women’s health and reproductive rights. The Constitutional Court is expected to rule this month on whether to uphold the restrictive law or rule that it is unconstitutional. The current law, from 1953, called the Mother and Child Health Law, says abortion is legal when the woman’s health is at … Continued

Women’s rights groups in the Gyeongsang provinces condemned a provincial police agency for investigating 26 women on whether they had abortions. Members of the women’s rights groups, including the Gyeongnam Women’s United Association, said they held a meeting with officials at the South Gyeongsang Province Police Agency on Monday and delivered a letter of complaint. Their protest came after a police station in the province was revealed to have checked whether 26 women who had … Continued