Dispute over abortion ban flares up

A controversy is growing over calls to abolish the law banning abortion.

A petition posted on Cheong Wa Dae’s website, requesting the abolition of the ban on abortion surgeries and medications gathered over 230,000 supporters over the past month.

“Unwanted births are a tragedy for the mother, child and nation,” it said. “Banning abortion surgeries and medications does not take into account the safety and health of women.”

While the presidential office has yet to respond, the Constitutional Court is reviewing the constitutionality of the abortion ban.

According to a report by Yonhap News Agency, the court received a petition in February to review whether related clauses in the criminal law are constitutional.

The first clause states a woman who undergoes an abortion is subject to a prison term of up to a year or a maximum fine of 2 million won.

The other states doctors who perform an abortion with the consent of a pregnant woman are subject to a prison term of up to two years.

The Constitutional Court’s review of the abortion ban comes five years after the clauses were ruled constitutional in August 2012.

“The fetus is a separate life from the mother, and unless there are special circumstances, the possibility is high it will grow into a human being and therefore its right to life must be acknowledged,” the court said.

However, there were justices who ruled the clauses unconstitutional, citing the ban and punishment of abortion in early stages of pregnancy violates women’s right to self-determination.

At the time four out of eight justices ruled the clauses as unconstitutional, falling short of six in order for the ruling to be made unconstitutional.

Attention is growing over how the court will rule on the clauses this time. The entire bench of justices who took part in the 2012 ruling has retired, so a new bench will make the ruling this time.

Based on earlier statements by incumbent justices, some say it is possible the clauses may be ruled unconstitutional.

Justice Lee Jin-sung, who has been nominated as the court’s president, said in a confirmation hearing in 2012, “Women’s right to self-determination and right to pursue happiness which attempts to protect themselves from pregnancy by opting for birth control and abortion should not be evaluated as inferior to a fetus’ right to life.”

Acting President Kim Yi-su at his confirmation hearing in September said, “In exceptional circumstances in which the pregnancy is in its early stages and the pregnancy is unwanted, there should be cases in which women’s right to self-determination should be prioritized.”

Other justices have also spoken in support of women’s right to self-determination.