cross-posted from: https://piefed.blahaj.zone/c/world@piefed.blahaj.zone/p/981109/south-korea-set-to-approve-abortion-pills-for-the-1st-time-next-year
South Korea plans to approve abortion pills for the first time to promote women’s rights to health and safety, deepening debates over abortions in a country that until recently had imposed strict rules on the procedure.
The government announced Wednesday that it aims to allow medication abortions for women who are up to nine weeks pregnant by the first quarter of 2027. Officials said that for the first two years, abortion pills would be directly prescribed and dispensed by doctors.
In a landmark ruling in 2019, South Korea’s Constitutional Court ordered the easing of the decades-old ban on most abortions, one of the strictest in the developed world. Abortion was subsequently decriminalized, but parliament has yet to revise related legislation, as opposition remains strong among many religious and conservative groups.
Some women have turned to unauthorized online channels to get abortion drugs that are not verified safe. The legislative gap has also undermined women’s rights to choose surgical or medication abortions and caused some confusion in the medical field.
“This introduction of medication abortion is meaningful because it’s a step to make sure that ending pregnancy is done more safely and within the national healthcare system, and to improve the situation caused by a lack of an effective government oversight system,” Gender Equality and Family Minister Won Min-kyong told a news conference.
The step is designed to approve a local company’s application for importing a two-drug combination pack consisting of mifepristone and misoprostol. A combination of mifepristone and misoprostol is the most common regimen for abortion pills in the United States.