Gov't set to take survey on abortion
/ Reuters
The government will conduct a fact-finding survey on abortion this year for the first time in eight years, the welfare ministry said Thursday, while a heated rages debate over the procedure.
The survey will be taken on 10,000 women across the nation in July and August, with the outcome to be released in October. In March, the ministry selected a research team, which has been working on a questionnaire.
It will be the third government survey on abortion. The previous ones took place in 2005 and 2010.
Estimates by the medical sector and the government of the number of terminations carried out in the country vary greatly.
The Korea College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says there are 3,000 abortions on average every day, with the annual number reaching 1.09 million.
The last announcements by the health ministry said that there were 342,000 abortions in 2005 and 168,000 in 2010. A daily average of around 1,000 terminations were conducted in 2005, but the number was estimated to have dropped significantly five years later, according to the ministry.
Legalizing abortion has been the subject of heated debate in South Korea since a petition on the issue was posted on the website of the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae last year. More than 200,000 people signed to show their support for the move.
Also, the Constitutional Court is to hold the first hearing Thursday on a petition filed last year by a doctor who was convicted of carrying out an abortion. The doctor requested the court review the constitutionality of the current anti-abortion law.
Local doctors say the country's criminal law is outdated since it punishes obstetricians and women with unwanted pregnancies.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Wednesday it has sent its opinion against the current law banning abortion to the Constitutional Court. (Yonhap)