SEOUL (UCAN): A survey by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs revealed there were an estimated 32,000 induced abortions in 2020, the Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation [CPBC] reported on July 1.
The Catholic Church in the country joined pro-life activists in voicing concerns over the surge in abortions in the country after it was decriminalised thanks to a court order about two years ago.
Induced abortion refers to the termination of pregnancy through medical procedure within 12 to 20 weeks of gestation, according to the Science Direct journal.
Father Park Jung-woo, secretary of the Committee for Life of the Archdiocese of Seoul, noted that the rise in abortions is related to people’s apparent lack of responsibility who fail to see life, sex and love as complimentary to each other.
“People should be aware of their fertility and be more responsible. We should educate them more, so they don’t separate life, sex, and love from one other,” Father Park said during a CPBC interview.
Sex without the purposes of procreation and sustaining life undermines the essence of sexual intercourse, and unmarried sex, in particular, does not intend to take responsibility for life
In 2017, South Korea registered 4,800 induced abortions, the Institute for Health and Social Affairs report showed.
The average age of women seeking an abortion was 27 in 2020, about 1.4 years younger than the average age recorded in a 2018 survey.
About 92.2 per cent of respondents underwent surgery, and 7.7 per cent used drugs.
The Korean government didn’t explain what factors triggered the sharp rise in abortions. However, observers point out that the rise comes as the nation moved to decriminalise abortion in 2019.
Abortions were banned in South Korea in 1953. However, illegal abortions were common as the law was not strictly enforced. Pro-abortionists and women’s rights activists called the ban discriminatory as it forced women to seek an abortion secretly, in unsafe conditions that put their lives at great risk.
In 2019, South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled that the criminalisation of abortion was illegal and ordered the government to lift the ban and in January 2021, parliament passed legislative measures to decriminalise abortion and to repeal previous laws that banned it.
The average age of women seeking an abortion was 27 in 2020, about 1.4 years younger than the average age recorded in a 2018 survey
Korean media has reported that an upcoming law seeks to legalise abortion up to 14 weeks is in the making. It would also allow abortion between the 15th and 24th weeks in cases involving rape or incest.
The survey report found that 53.8 per cent of respondents admitted that they always use contraception. Out of them, about 40 per cent were married women.
Father Park lamented that many Koreans today do not bother about the true purpose of sex and continue to defy sexual morality.
“Sex without the purposes of procreation and sustaining life undermines the essence of sexual intercourse, and unmarried sex, in particular, does not intend to take responsibility for life,” Father Park said.
Education to prevent unwanted pregnancies is the task that the country should do concerning abortion, he added.
The Korean Church has long campaigned for the protection of life and opposed abortion based on the Church’s stance on the “sacredness of life” that teaches that human life must be protected “from the very moment of conception.”
In 2018, Korean bishops launched an anti-abortion petition that gained a million signatures. The Church has also been organising March for Life campaign in various parts of the country.
