Reasons for abolition of ‘abortion crimes’: more women will suffer expressed illegal procedures (cases of damages)

Are there women who are “willing” to stop the pregnancy (abortion)? Women don’t want to stop getting pregnant. She is the woman who suffers the most severe physical and mental damage from abortion. Paradoxically, this is the reason why it is necessary to fully allow the termination of pregnancy. It means that there is a good reason for deciding to stop getting pregnant even though you know you will suffer physical and mental harm.

As the government announced a legislative amendment to preserve the crime of abortion, there is criticism that the punishment for the crime of abortion, which had been practically private, has been revived. Punishment never reduces the termination of pregnancy. It just expresses itself. The sound procedure greatly threatens the health of women. How does negative pregnancy stop threatening the life and health of women? We collect stories of women who had no choice but to undergo “illegal” surgery in unsanitary and poor quality medical institutions.

“I deliberately went to a small, dilapidated private hospital on the outskirts. Well, there are hospitals that go unnoticed by anyone. After the operation, my stomach still hurt and the bleeding was severe, but even if I wanted to go to the OB / GYN clinic, I couldn’t go because I thought I couldn’t tell them that I had the (break) surgery. When I was just sick, I said, ‘Is it because the hospital is outdated …?’ It was hard to get rid of the thoughts I was thinking about. ”- Woman A

“I got a call from the hospital saying that part of the fetus remains in the uterus due to medical negligence (with the surgery to stop the pregnancy already). I had to undergo a reoperation, but they asked me for the same amount as in the previous surgery. I don’t have a good memory at that hospital, so I want to go to another hospital, but it is difficult to say that I had an illegal abortion surgery, I have nowhere to go for help and it is very difficult to pay for the surgery again. “- Woman B

“My friend from abroad says there are safe ways to have a medical abortion in the early stages of pregnancy. But in the hospital I went to, I had never heard of such a story, so I had the option of having surgery. I found out about my pregnancy so early, so I even waited a few more weeks to tell me to go to the nursery for surgery. Since I was late, I had to pay more for the surgery. ”- Woman C.

-Provided by the Korean Women’s Friends Association

The history of ‘illegal abortion’ is long. Now, women in their 70s and 80s with gray hair and wrinkles also suffered greatly. At the time, they were only in their late teens to early twenties. In particular, the damage to survivors who worked in the USFK base village in the 1960s and 1970s is devastating. Kim Jeong-ae, executive director of the Women’s Human Rights Alliance in the base village, said, “There were many women who died while undergoing illegal procedures in an unsanitary environment at the time,” she said.

″ Even if they survived, there are many women who suffer side effects due to the degradation of their body. He complains of the pain that “his whole body tingles” or “I don’t think my body is my body.” Someone tried to commit suicide due to trauma while watching a colleague suffer the aftermath of ‘illegal abortion’ ”. -Kim Jung-ae, executive director of the Women’s Human Rights Alliance in the base village

An activist from the Women’s Human Rights Alliance in the camp village also presented this case. “I was a person who could not anesthetize well. He said he passed out while undergoing mental surgery because he was not anesthetized. If it had been a decent medical institution, it would not have carried out such an operation against human rights even with other anesthetics ”. Thus, the world where the termination of pregnancy is a disaster has left a terrible mark on the lives of women.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s ‘Survey on the State of Artificial Termination’, which was released in February last year, about 50,000 cases were received in Korea last year. The medical community estimates that actual procedures will be more than statistical. This is because there will be many procedures that will be performed negatively in situations where termination of pregnancy is legally prohibited. In 2018, the Korean Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published a survey on whether to perform abortion surgery. In fact, in a situation where it is possible to stop the pregnancy if one chooses to do so, it seems that the voice of surgery will further jeopardize the health of the woman.

Article 35 of the Constitution establishes: “All citizens have the right to live in a healthy way.” What women want is the right to live a safe and healthy life. The time has come for the government to respond to the voices of women who say: “The crime of abortion” in Chapter 27 of the Penal Code must be eliminated so that no woman is punished for interrupting pregnancy.

Inhye Lee Editor: [email protected]