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

The 1953 abortion law in South Korea, allows abortion in cases of rape, which must be proved by the woman, incest and when her health is at risk, in which case the partner’s consent is required. Initiated by the women’s movement, this law is under review by the country’s Constitutional Court. But the Court recently reported their ruling was delayed indefinitely. A news story reported that early in August, the Health Ministry issued revised regulations … Continued

Amid what the Korea Times called “heated public discourse inching towards greater rights protection for women’s autonomy”, Dr Yoon Jeong-won, Head of Women’s Affairs of the Association of Physicians for Humanism, said, at a forum at the National Assembly building on 5 July, entitled “From Illegal Abortion to Reproductive Health”, that Korea should legalise abortion and guarantee women’s health rights by widening abortion choices such as approving the abortion pill. The forum was organised by … Continued

Through a critical review of current laws, this paper attempts to explain the legal, social, and cultural factors underlying the discrepancy between restrictive laws and enforcement of the regulation.