Korean Catholic Leaders and Pro-Lifers Slam Move to Legalize Abortion Pills

Catholic leaders and pro-life advocates in South Korea are pushing back hard against a government review of legalizing abortion pills, warning that the move would abandon both unborn children and the pregnant women officials claim to be helping.

At a July 15 press conference in Seoul organized by lawmaker Yoon Yong-geun and the National Alliance for Fetal and Women's Protection, speakers condemned President Lee Jae-myung's July 14 directive ordering a review of whether to legalize the pills.

Father Park Eun-ho, director of the Catholic Institute of Bioethics, rejected President Lee's framing of the issue as a mere administrative fix. "The fierce debate about how many weeks abortion should be permitted is not merely unproductive theory," he said. "This is an important issue that determines whether our society becomes an inhumane society that excludes helpless, weak, and unproductive lives, or a livable society that respects the unshakeable value of all human lives."

Lee had described legalizing the pills as a "realistic and pragmatic approach," arguing that women were already obtaining unauthorized abortion drugs on their own. Father Park rejected that reasoning, saying abortion touches on fundamental moral values rather than a mere procedural question, and asked "whether the voice of people calling for respect for fetal life, which has no ability to defend itself, is worthless."

The priest noted that South Korea's Constitutional Court ruled in April 2019 only that the country's criminal ban on abortion was unconstitutional, a decision he said was separate from any question of authorizing abortion pills. He argued the government should crack down on illegal drug distribution rather than legalize the medication outright.

Han Ah-reum, who is eight weeks pregnant, told the press conference that women in crisis pregnancies need social support rather than abortion pills. "A mother and fetus are not enemies to each other," she said. "The state should not force one or the other to be abandoned, but should protect both lives together through counseling, medical care, safe housing, and financial support."

Professor Jang Ji-young of Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital warned that rushing to approve the pills without clear legal and safety standards would shift responsibility away from lawmakers and onto individual doctors. "Leaving it to doctors' discretion without legal standards and guidelines is not honoring expertise, but shifting the policy and legal responsibility that should be borne by the state to medical professionals," he said.

Lawmaker Yoon condemned what he called a hasty push to legalize the medication, saying the government "must stop efforts to permit dangerous medications and take practical and fundamental steps to protect the right to life of the fetus and the health rights of pregnant women."

South Korea's National Assembly failed to pass a replacement abortion law after the 2019 court ruling, and the country's criminal abortion provisions lapsed on Jan. 1, 2021, leaving the procedure decriminalized without any regulatory framework. According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the nation's annual abortion count fell sharply from about 241,000 in 2008 to roughly 23,000 in 2018, before edging back up to about 27,000 in 2019 and 32,000 in 2020.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Priests for Life stands with Korea's Catholic community and pro-life advocates in opposing the legalization of abortion pills. Making these drugs easier to obtain does nothing to address the fear and pressure that lead women toward abortion. It only makes it easier to end a child's life without counseling, support or a real alternative being offered.

Sources: UCA News.

Related: Readers can learn more about perinatal hospice and crisis-pregnancy support resources available to women facing unexpected pregnancies through local pregnancy resource centers.