SEOUL - South Korea’s Constitutional Court said on Thursday a law criminalising abortion was unconstitutional, a landmark ruling that will overturn a ban on abortion that had been in place since 1953.
The South is one of the few industrialised nations where the procedure is illegal except for instances of rape, incest and when the mother's health is at risk. Calls to repeal the law have gained traction in recent years, but support for it is also staunch in a country that remains conservative towards female sexuality and highly influenced by evangelical Christianity.
RARE OPPORTUNITY But activists who want it changed sense a rare opportunity, with six of the nine current judges appointed by liberal-leaning President Moon Jae-in, and several of its members - including the chief justice - having publicly shown a willingness to reconsider the rules.Campaigners say the procedure is in fact commonplace in South Korea, and that the ban has been unfairly applied to target mostly young, unwed women - who are most vulnerable to abortion-related stigma in the country.
In 2017, a high school student told a rally in Seoul she had been forced to end her education after having an abortion. But religious belief is widespread in South Korea, and some of its evangelical mega-churches are among those defending the ban.
Such a shame.
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