Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Public health center forces pregnant women to pledge breastfeeding
Seen is the written pledge provided to a woman who visited a public health center in Jangan District, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, to register her pregnancy, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Twitter user “mayflyslayer”
By Lee Hae-rin
By Lee Hae-rin
An online posting has drawn attention with its claim that a public health center here forced pregnant women to vow to breastfeed their babies when they registered their pregnancy to receive welfare benefits.
The person who posted the story on Twitter, Wednesday, said her friend visited the center in Jangan District, Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, recently, and was forced to sign a written pledge to breastfeed her child.
In a photo provided by the Twitter user with the ID of “mayflyslayer” to The Korea Times, the written promise read: “I vow to breastfeed. I vow to know the importance of breastfeeding and raise my child healthily. I vow to continue breastfeeding even after going back to work.”
The woman refused to sign the pledge, saying she didn't believe breastfeeding was a must and that it was her choice whether to do it. Following this, staff at the center “treated her like a weird person,” according to the uploader.
It was revealed that as a means to promote breastfeeding, a number of public health centers here require the written pledge campaign from pregnant women who visit to register their pregnancy and receive welfare benefits, including free prenatal tests and iron supplement pills.
“The breastfeeding campaign is part of the Korea Health Promotion Institution's health plan guidelines and aims to promote the health benefits of breastfeeding to mothers and their children,” an official from a public health center in Dongdaemun District in Seoul told The Korea Times.
However, obstetricians point out that the campaign is discriminatory and lacks understanding of women's health, as many pregnant women cannot breastfeed due to health problems.
“This form of campaign could distress pregnant women who are not in a condition to breastfeed, and infringes on the privacy of those who simply don't want to do so,” said Kim Dong-suk, president of the Korean College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Womenlink Korea, a women's rights civic group that has been protesting against the breastfeeding vow for years, said, “It is shocking that a public institution carries out a project with such an outdated way of thinking that is insensitive to women's rights and health. Women are not tools for giving birth, and breastfeeding is a personal choice. The public health policy should change with more consideration to the health of both pregnant women and babies.”