While this is a very touchy subject for most I must share this article I found in the New York Times. (click here for the full article)
In Korea, abortion is completely against the law...very few exceptions, and the most common form of birth control is the morning after pill (information from a korean friend). The picture above shows doctors holding a news conference and asking for forgivess for conducting illegal abortions in their clinic for money. One doctor said that she realized things were really bad when she was performing double the amount of abortions as she was births in her office. In America, where abortion is discussed openly and often in Korea, “Abortion has never become a hot issue here because the society considers it a family issue, and there is a strong taboo against discussing a family matter in public.” According to the article, women after having one healthy baby will demand an abortion because they drank cold medicine or had a drink while pregnant and don't want to have any complications.
The issue is much larger than just abortion, the infertility rate in Korea is the lowest in the world, 1.19 child per kid, down from 4.5 30 years ago, women are aging, not wanting to marry (see my earlier post) and with so many abortions taking place...the birth rate is drastically declining. President Lee-Myung Bak is calling for bold steps to increasing the birth rate. The government's new message "with abortion, you're aborting the future."
I know this is a very controversial topic and I wanted to share with you Korea's side.
2 comments:
So true, Nicole. I saw 4 abortion cases in a week while I was working in a local OBGY clinic. There were more cases that I didn't see. From my perspective as a nursing student and Korean, the government should take this issue seriously and they need to educate kids well about contraception to keep people from not killing unnecessary babies.
Wow I didn't expect this would be so long!!
It is so controversial in the states...but i totally agree. everytime i go buy my pill at the pharmacy she is always a little confused, and i dont think it is because i don't speak good korean :) im glad you are reading!
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