Through investigating 26 women on whether they had an abortion, controversies over maintenance or abolition of criminal abortion operation have become an issue.

▲ Women`s right groups protest for abolition of criminal abortion operation.

On September, police investigated 26 women on whether they had an abortion. Police found 26 women's personal data through a hospital. When the situation became known, women's rights groups in Gyeongnam strongly resisted. They condemned the police about their works. Also, women's rights groups required that the government should abolish criminal abortion operation. Accordingly, police admitted that they investigated 26 women because of the petition. However, the police asserted that they did not arrest those 26 women.

When the protests are widely known, controversies over maintenance or abolition of criminal abortion operation have become an issue. People who have a positive viewpoint on the abolition of criminal abortion operation contended that the government should ensure women's right of self-determination. Moreover, the criminal abortion operation infringes women's right. However, people who are in the opposite side asserted that when an embryo is fertilized, we should recognize it as life even if it is just a cell. So, they asserted that abortion is not different from murdering a life. Also, they emphasized the danger of abortion.

▲ An anonymous women`s group, BWAVE, protests for legalization of pregnancy termination.

An anonymous women's group, which requires legalization of pregnancy termination called "BWAVE", strongly refuted that criminal abortion operation should subsist. An anonymous women's group asserted that criminal abortion operation give fake rights to the living cells, so criminal abortion operation must prevent women from aborting. They assisted that abolition of criminal abortion operation is an inevitable way to free women.

▲ An abortion pill, Mifegyne,

While the protests are continuously underway, women's rights groups raised their voices. They argued that the government should introduce Mifegyne. Mifegyne is an abortion pill which is made by a French pharmaceutical company. Countries including the U.S., China, and many others are allowed to take the abortion pill, Mifegyne. Also, the World Health Organization considered Mifegyne an essential medicine and one of the medical supplies in 2005. However, Mifegyne is completely banned in South Korea. So, women's rights groups in South Korea continuously required that the government should introduce this abortion pill.

January 5th, by Kwak Chae Hyun