Korea's 65-year-old abortion ban under review

A woman holds a picket that reads “If abortion is a crime, the state is the criminal” at a protest against the abortion ban held in downtown Seoul last Nov. 9./ Yonhap

By Lee Suh-yoon

The fate of the nation's 65-year-old anti-abortion law seems to stand at a crossroads as the Constitutional Court plans to review the legislation, Thursday.

A woman who gets an abortion in Korea can face a one-year jail term or a fine of 2 million won ($1,850). A doctor who carries out the abortion can face up to two years in prison. The blanket ban has a few exceptions such as when the pregnancy poses serious health risks to the mother.

Evelyn, a woman in her late 20s who asked to be identified by her English pseudonym, refers to the abortion she had in her college sophomore year as a “precarious journey.”

“As it was illegal, I was not given a full explanation from the doctor before the operation – even on what kind of medical instruments would be used. For all I know, he could have used a clothes hanger,” she said in an interview with The Korea Times.

“It was a precarious journey, and one you can't even talk about with anyone.”

The hospital demanded a 600,000 won ($555) payment – in cash, to leave no records of the illegal procedure. She borrowed the money from an older woman.

She found the doctor's attitude was more troubling than the operation itself, which fortunately ended well without complications.

“The doctor did not show me the respect that I deserve as a patient,” she said.

“His attitude was like 'Without me, where will you get this illegal procedure? It was also scary because I knew I could not hold him accountable even if anything went wrong.”

High abortion rate

Korea has one of the highest abortion rates among OECD countries.

One in five women of childbearing age with sexual experience has had an abortion, according to a recent survey by the Korean Women's Development Institute.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 169,000 abortions were carried out in 2010. Ninety-four percent were illegal and over half were performed on married women.

Public health insiders say this figure – which is already higher than most OECD countries is understated. According to the Korean Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 3,000 abortions are carried out each day, putting the number of annual abortions over 1 million.

Choi Kyu-jin, a doctor and associate professor at Inha University School of Medicine, believes the abortion ban is detrimental from a public health perspective, which prioritizes women's health and a lowering of the abortion rate.

“According to data collected by the World Health Organization, abortion rates are not lower in countries with abortion bans, it only forces more women to undergo illegal and unsafe procedures,” Choi said. “In fact, abortion rates are slightly lower in countries with less restrictive abortion laws, because these countries usually conduct more open and effective sex education.”

Will the ban be overturned?

In a similar case in 2012, the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the abortion ban, saying “not punishing abortion as a criminal offense will lead to more abortions.”

But public opinion – which has repeatedly influenced the Constitutional Court's decisions – has changed, raising hopes the court may finally overrule the ban.

A Realmeter poll done last November showed 51.9 percent of Koreans support scrapping the abortion ban, opposed to 36.2 percent who support the ban.

At least six judges out of nine from the Constitutional Court must oppose the abortion ban for it to be ruled unconstitutional.

Six out of nine standing judges of the Constitutional Court, including chief justice Lee Jin-sung, have acknowledged to varying degrees that the current abortion ban is too restrictive on women.

“It is possible to move towards allowing abortions up to a certain period,” Lee expressed at his parliamentary hearing last November.

The decision is likely to be made before September this year, when the terms of five standing judges are due to end.

More than 230,000 signed an online petition calling for the legalization of abortion and the abortion pill Mifegyne last September.

In response, the Presidential Office released a videotaped response where Cho Kuk, the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, said the petition is a start to “finding a new balance” on abortion.

Living under abortion ban

Though abortion is punishable by criminal law, prosecution is unlikely. Only 24 women and doctors have been tried in court in 2016 and only two were convicted.

The fact that it is illegal, however, still imposes guilt and silence on women who choose abortion.

For Evelyn, abortion has become the one secret she keeps from her parents.

“It has created an invisible barrier between us,” she said. “But I can't let them know because I know they will judge me. I may tell my mother later, maybe after I get married.”

Evelyn believes the strict laws on abortion have to do with the way society views women's bodies – as a vehicle for childbirth.

“Our society, our family tells women to cut their bones in plastic surgery, to increase attractiveness for the job market,” she said. “But they cannot tolerate us for removing a cell from our body.”

For her, coming to terms with abortion is synonymous with breaking free of this social mold.

“My body is not a china vase, it's a body that can act on my desires,” she said. “I want to experience life to its fullest.”

She also believes the media underrepresents women who choose abortion as “the right choice”,

“In media, there are no female characters who live normal, satisfactory lives after an abortion,” she said. “But in reality, there are many. And I'm one of them.”