Korean Job Discussion Forums

[exit86]

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/02/117_38891.html


By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

From next year, doctors will be allowed to reveal the gender of a fetus after 28 weeks gestation, the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said Tuesday.

Under current law doctors and nurses can lose their licenses if they reveal the gender at anytime during pregnancy, but the revised law will only impose this on those doing so within the 28 weeks.

The revision comes after the Constitutional Court ruled last year that banning doctors from notifying parents of the sex of their unborn baby was outdated and ``violated a pregnant woman's right to know.'' The court also said the ban would restrict the right of pregnant women to pursue happiness and infringe on doctors' professional rights.

The original law was intended to discourage mothers from having abortions based on gender ― boys are preferred in Korea's Confucian society.

Medical insiders welcomed the decision. ``It is actually one of the basic rights of future parents to know all they can about their fetus and it is an obligation for doctors to provide it,'' the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology said.

``No doctor would dare to perform an abortion 28 weeks into a pregnancy,'' a group spokesman said.

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I'm not sure how many of you feel about abortion; but in a country where
there are 1.5 million abortions annually vs. 500,000 births, even the most staunch pro-choice individual might need to think twice.

This is the present "reported" abortion rate (which is actually against the law, legally performed only if the mother is at risk as determined by her doctor. Therefore the actual abortion rate is estimated at being twice this figure.)

From personal experience, I know at least 4 women who have all had 4 or 5 abortions each (all due to gender selection, and all made legal by a doctor's recommendation).
It is also sorta funny how out of 10 of my wife's friends, 9 of them have boys (my wife is the one with the girl)


What do you think about this recent development?????

Personally, I think this is REALLY f'd up!!!!
The right to choose is one thing; the right to kill in selecting the
desired child is another.

[moosehead]

[exit86]

Birth control is one thing.

Habitual gender control to maintain and perpetuate
a phallocentric culture where there are not enough females
for the males of the culture
is quite another.

Don't have to be a woman to see that.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[curlygirl]

[ChinaBoy]

Forget it. The OP is obviously biased. His quote "the right to kill" means he isn't inviting discussion.

Surely this is in the wrong place and needs to be off-topic?

[Faunaki]

I am friends with a lot of Koreans and I'd say most of the ones I know have girls. In fact, most of my friends have two girls, no boys and they are fine with it. Also at 28 weeks a doctor cannot do an abortion. I think your facts are off.


Your girlfriend's friends sound like they suck.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[Chris2007]

[exit86]

Have a good read folks:
(I hope these links work . . . )

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSSEO35121820080404?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

http://orientem.blogspot.com/2008/12/three-out-of-four-south-korean-babies.html

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/special/2007/11/175_14681.html


Believe what you want to believe about this issue in general;
but, put into this context, it sort of makes you think twice.


ChinaBoy is correct, this should have been posted in "Off-Topic."
Maybe the mods can move it??? (But, contrary to his/her other observation, it is precisely for the sake of discussion which I posted the article; therefore all informed opinions and ideas are sought
and unquestionably welcome.)

[Faunaki]

[exit86]

See links above.

A major factor in the matter is "reported" vs. "unreported"
operations. If something is illegal, it is absurd to think that people would report their own crime, subjecting themselves and all involved to prosecution.

[Bibbitybop]

Government has no moral authority over an individual's body.

[RACETRAITOR]

[Milwaukiedave]

I think abortions should be safe and legal, but I don't agree with using it for choosing the sex of a child or as repeated contraceptive. Maybe the law is outdated. My understanding from talking to people is that the law was circumvented easily most of the time anyway, therefore it was pretty ineffective.

Less Koreans subscribe to the notion that you HAVE to have a male child and most of those are the elder generation who are waning at this very moment. My wife's parents had three daughters and they are very proud of their daughters.

Your girlfriend's friends sound like the exception to the rule. I guess if they want to run and have an abortion every time the doctor tells them they are going to have a girl, that's their right. As someone else stated, they risk a higher risk of problems down the road. It would be a shame if they were not able to have any children or maybe it would just be an irony of sorts.