Dear editor,
One of the most sensitive and controversial issues is abortion. It is not a problem that the lid is on anymore. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2005, it was said that 96 percent of abortion operations were illegal.
I would like to examine the problem without considering the humanity of babies that are not yet born. Truthfully, many prospective parents want to have an abortion because of financial reasons, health problems and malformation.
In Korea, bearing and rearing children costs a lot of money including medical bills and educational expenses. Those who lack financial stability don’t want to rush into having a baby. Even though they give birth, the child may be heading straight to an orphanage. It’s not just a problem for individuals. It goes on to become a problem for the whole of society.
Next, women who have severe health problems should have an abortion to protect themselves. In my opinion, those women have that right. If they don’t have an abortion and give birth, their health will decline or they could even die. Also, if the mother is underage, what should she do? It is necessary for them to have an abortion.
These days, through medical tests, prospective parents can know whether their child is deformed or not. If parents know that the baby is deformed, most of them may decide to take action. In children’s shoes, those who are born deformed will undergo miserable pain until their dying day. Perhaps they may blame that on their parents for the rest of their life.
In conclusion, considering all of those factors, abortion should be legal and I support it. Do you know that countries where the abortion operation is legal have a lower rate of abortion than other countries where it is not?
To make punishments more severe won’t have an effect on the disappearance or decrease of abortion itself. Rather it will make abortions performed in secret increase. Therefore, anti-abortion activists should look at abortion from other angles.
Lim Kyoung-hee
Student
Chung-Ang University, Seoul