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talkpoliticsSouth Korea's top court Thursday struck down a challenge calling for an end to tough legal punishments for midwives and others administering illegal abortions.
Abortion is outlawed in South Korea, except in cases where the procedure takes place before the 24th week of pregnancy and the mother's health is in danger, the foetus is malformed or the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.
A midwife filed a petition against a clause of the law stipulating a maximum two-year jail term for doctors, midwives, traditional medicine doctors, or pharmacists who perform an illegal abortion.
She challenged the law's constitutionality after going on trial for helping a woman terminate her pregnancy in 2010.
The constitutional court, however, dismissed the petition saying lighter punishment would only make abortion more rampant.
Official data showed that more than 340,000 abortions were conducted in 2005, 95 percent of them illegally. No later figures were available.
Abortion has for decades been widely tolerated by successive governments trying to control birth in a crowded society.
Interestingly, some fellow expats and I were discussing abortion in Korea just the other week. During the talk I was really surprised at just how easy getting an abortion was despite it being illegal. Finding someone who will do the procedure isn't difficult and getting it all set up is very quick according to one girl who was willing to tell her tale.
Frankly I'm bothered that abortion can be done with less fuss in a place where it's illegal than in the US. And keep in mind that Korea is the second most Christian nation in Asia. Street prechers and other soapbox types aren't uncommon on the subway or in certain parts of town. But hoesntly, if population control is such an issue then IMO Korea just needs to bite the bullet and make it legal. Doing otherwise makes a nation obsessed with being "modern" seem painfully backwards.
