Korean Job Discussion Forums

[maximmm]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/08/116_140914.html

A district court handed a doctor a six-month prison sentence suspended for a year for carrying out an abortion; and fined the 29-year-old patient involved 2 million won.

The Uijeongbu District Court in Gyeonggi Province also suspended the unidentified doctor for a year.

“Abortion is a grave crime that violates the fetus’s right to live. This case doesn’t meet the conditions for exceptions allowing abortions in the Mother and Child Protection Law,” the court said in its ruling.

It refused to accept the woman's argument that her health was in a critical danger during the pregnancy.

The ruling is expected to trigger a new round of debates over abortion due to a previous ruling in Daejeon.

In June, a district court there postponed sentencing doctors indicted for carrying out abortions. “With the given reality that abortion is a common and accepted practice, it’s not fair for doctors alone to bear the responsibility,” the court said.

Korean, law bans abortion with exceptions such as conditions that threaten the life of the pregnant woman. A doctor who conducts the procedure and the patient are subject to up to two years and one year in prison, respectively.

However, abortion remains a common practice here, especially among young unmarried women.

[Beeyee]

He performed an illegal surgery, knowing full well what the implications would be if he were caught.

No sympathy.

[On the other hand]

But the abortion laws have been flouted with such impunity for years in Korea, I'm wondering how this guy managed to get himself on the radar.

I know there's been an attempt to restrict abortion these last few years, with increased fees and whatnot, but I haven't heard many cases of doctors being charged. My guess is there's something going on in this case that isn't being reported in the story. Or maybe they just randonly chose this guy to make an example of?

[geldedgoat]

I haven't been able to confirm this in any English news outlets, but my wife said the woman's husband may have tipped off the authorities. Apparently she lied to the doctor about having the father's consent (curious that this would matter for an illegal surgery... might have been for the doctor's benefit, to avoid this very situation).

[12ax7]

[Julius]

[jvalmer]

The government will never 'really' ban abortion here. Because they know socially it would never work (well at least for another generation). And when a Korean girl is determined to do something, they usually will, one way or another.

[Threequalseven]

I thought I read somewhere that there was a three-strikes policy for doctors giving abortions. But maybe that's only for revoking their license. Anyway, they should really start a public education campaign about monthly planning coupled with the pull-out method.