By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

The number of abortions here reaches as high as just under half of all pregnancies, a professor said Friday.

Prof. Kim Hae-jung of Korea University said that a total of 342,000 fetuses were aborted in 2005 while 476,000 babies were delivered in the same year.

He added that as many as 11,700 teenagers aged between 15 and 19 had abortions during the period.

Family planning and economic difficulties appeared to be the major reasons for seeking the procedure.

Of the respondents, 42 percent had an abortion as they did not want any more children, while 11 percent said that financial difficulties were the reason.

The professor called for a change in the law covering abortions to allow would-be mothers to have the procedure.

``Given that financial difficulties are one of the major reasons for abortions, there is a wide discrepancy between the law banning abortion without exception and the reality of actual life.''

pss@koreatimes.co.kr