South Korea's constitutional court has ordered the country's decades-old abortion ban to be lifted in a landmark ruling over a law that campaigners sa
South Korea‘s constitutional court has ordered the country’s decades-old abortion ban to be lifted in a landmark ruling over a law that campaigners say puts women at risk. Under the ruling, the ban will be automatically lifted on January 1 2021 unless new legislation is introduced sooner by parliament to follow the court order.
Under the ban, women who undergo the procedure can face up to a year in jail and a fine, while doctors who performed the procedure are given two years in prison.
The nine-member bench ruled by seven to two that the 1953 statute aimed at protecting lives and traditional values “goes against the constitution” and ordered the law to be revised by the end of next year.
“Embryos completely depend on the mother’s body for their survival and development, so it cannot be concluded that they are separate, independent living beings entitled to rights to life.”
South Korea remains one of the few industrialised nations that criminalises abortion, except for instances of rape, incest and when the mother’s health is in jeopardy.
Bursting into tears of joy and celebrating, hundreds of women — including teenagers and females with disabilities, cheered wildly in front of the Constitutional Court in central Seoul, where the official ruling was announced. The 1953 law had been widely flouted and rarely resulted in prosecutions, but activists had claimed it left women facing being unable to pay for terminations, unsafe procedures and social ostracisation.
