Push to End South Korea Abortion Ban Gains Strength, and Signatures

Push to End South Korea Abortion Ban Gains Strength, and Signatures
Advocates say the ban makes women seeking abortions vulnerable to reprisals; boyfriends, former boyfriends, husbands
and in-laws have reported women to the police, according to South Korean news reports.
Heather Barr said that The president could just at the stroke of a pen say, ‘That’s it, we’re going to have zero tolerance now,’
Women can be sentenced to a year in prison or ordered to pay fines of two million won (about $1,840)
for having abortions, while doctors who perform them can get up to two years in prison.
Kim said that Everything is related to how the government views the existence of women,
and whether they are just looked at as vessels to give birth or if they are concerned about the quality of life of women as full-fledged citizens,
Kim Jin-seon, head of the women’s health team at Womenlink, a nonprofit advocacy group,
said the abortion law is rooted in broader biases against women in South Korea.
Abortion rights advocates say that even with lax enforcement, women will be subject to political whims as long as the law is in place.
" Dr. Yoon said. that This new organization scared off the doctors and made them hesitant to perform abortions,
According to a government estimate, based on a survey of women of childbearing age, 169,000 abortions were
conducted in 2010, the latest year for which data is available from the Health and Welfare Ministry.