스크랩 [Reporter`s eye] Illegal Abortion 최종

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Illegal Abortion 6.docx

[Reporter’s Eye]

Illegal Abortion

By Lee Hyeon-ju, Culture Reporter, twohj1218@mju.ac.kr

Last August 17th, the Ministry Of Health and Welfare (MOHW) defined an artificially induced abortion as an “immoral medical practice,” and issued a revision bill stating it would impose a month-long suspension on the practice of a doctor who performs an abortion. A month-long suspension is a deadly punishment because obstetricians must shut down their entire clinic for that time period. In the end, the obstetricians published a statement stating they would boycott performing abortions.

The current law states that abortion is in principle impossible, but only exceptionally permissible. Abortion is allowed within 24 weeks for pregnancies resulting from rape, semi-rape, incest, and genetic disorders. A woman who has had an illegal abortion and a doctor who has performed one will be punished by imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding two million won.

Those who believe that abortion should remain illegal say that the right to life of a fetus cannot be compromised. According to their opinion, abortion is murder because they believe that the fetus as a living human being from the moment of conception. They also worry that making abortion legal will increase the abortion rate, negatively affect women’s rights, and reduce men’s responsibility for pregnancy.

However, those who believe that abortion should be legal have a different opinion. Although there are some permissible instances for abortion provided by the law, the scope for allowing abortions is far from the reality. It is not much different from eliminating all abortions and does not protect the self-determination of women in regard to pregnancy and childbirth. Moreover, the law only charges women and physicians with a crime. There are no punishments for the men who have made the women pregnant. Obviously, it is necessary to think about the current law in this regard.

Furthermore, there is no reason to be concerned that the abortion rate will increase due to the legalization of abortion. According to international comparisons by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), abortion rates in countries which have legalized abortion are lower than those countries where abortion is prohibited. Thus, there is no correlation between abortion tolerance and abortion rate.

There are even cases that have caused a national tragedy when abortion was made illegal. In 1966, Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu banned abortion as part of a population policy meant to increase fertility. After the implementation of these policies, the birth rate of newborn babies doubled after one year. However, the number of welfare facilities and physicians were insufficient, and the infant mortality rate rose sharply to 145%. The number of parents sending babies to orphanages has also increased.

In places where abortion is illegal, the right to life of the women exposed to illegal abortions is threatened more than that of the fetus. Dangerous methods are used for abortions, such as illegal surgery, or illegal abortion medications, and women do not receive appropriate treatment afterwards, which results in health problems. The abolition of illegal abortions should be a goal for our times. Therefore, laws that transfer the responsibility to women for the punishment of abortion should be changed.