Korean doctors threaten to boycott abortions

Korea's OB/GYN doctors Tuesday declared they will boycott abortion procedures in protest against the government's regulatory change that subjects doctors to one-month suspension of license for conducting the procedures. Yonhap

By Oh Young-jin

OB/GYN doctors Tuesday threatened to stop performing abortions.

Their threat came in response to the Aug. 18 regulatory change that suspends a doctor's license for a month if he or she performs an abortion.

"We refuse to perform abortions at the risk of being branded as immoral medical practitioners and getting our license suspended for a month," the association of OB/GYN doctors said at a news conference.

"We are not seeking to abolish an abortion ban but we want to see the new regulation put on hold until a social consensus is achieved."

If the threat is put into practice, it would create confusion over what is a legal or illegal abortion.

The Mother and Child Health Act allows abortion for such cases as pregnancy from rape and incest or for genetic impairment of the fetus, among others, but makes it illegal after the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The government estimated there were 169,000 illegal abortions in 2010, the latest available figure, but experts say the actual number exceeds 500,000 a year.

Abolition of the abortion ban drew 230,000 backers on the presidential petition site, prompting Cheong Wa Dae to adopt a supportive tone. The petitioners criticized the ban for proliferating illegal procedures and imposing high fees on those who seek them.

Women's advocates called for the ban's abolition as part of their pro-choice movement while staging protests in downtown Seoul over the weekend.

Catholics and Christians are lobbying hard to keep the ban, arguing that abortion represents the belittling of life itself.