임신경험자 5명 중 1명 낙태 경험 있음, 전국 여성 1만명대상 보건사회硏 조사<br /><br />The government released data on the number of abortions taking place in the country,... where cases of termination, while illegal, are rarely prosecuted.<br />The issue is still controversial,... as it remains to be seen as a zero-sum game between pro-life and pro-choice values.<br />Oh Soo-young provides a closer look. <br />One in five pregnant women in Korea were found to have had an abortion,... mostly due to concerns about their livelihoods and long-term social prospects.<br />On Thursday, the state-run Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs,... released rare data on abortions conducted in the country for the first time in seven years.<br />Out of the nearly 38-hundred women surveyed,... who have experienced pregnancy, 756 said they have had a termination,... most of them through surgical procedures.<br />Ten percent of the women said they'd considered an abortion but hadn't gone through with it. <br />The survey was conducted in September and October on women and girls aged between 15 and 44. <br />Abortion is illegal in Korea, under the Criminal Act which imposes a maximum fine of 2 million won or a year in prison for intentional miscarriages.<br />Physicians are permitted to carry out abortions,... only in the case of rape or incest,... or if the pregnancy could jeopardise the mother or baby's health. <br />Still, abortions at medical clinics are considered an open secret in the country, with the law rarely enforced.<br />Abortion pills are becoming more attainable online and from overseas.<br />In recent years, there have been growing calls to change the 1953 law,... with seven in ten women against the criminalisation of abortions. <br />But the ethics of the issue -- over the sanctity of life and a woman's right to choose continues to be debated.<br />In the recent survey, the biggest reasons that pregnant women considered ending their pregnancies were concerns about economic prospects,... and fears that a child could hinder one's career or academic prospects.<br />However, for women who chose not to have an abortion,... the value of human life was the most compelling reason. <br />Meanwhile, the institute also said the number of abortions has been on a downward trend due to higher use of birth control,... hitting 50-thousand cases in 2017,... from 342-thousand cases 12 years earlier.<br />Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.
