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South Korea's Constitutional Court on Thursday was set to decide whether it is constitutional to punish women and physicians for terminating a pregnancy, a fresh ruling to come seven years after the court narrowly upheld the long-debated law.
The adjudication, due in a 2 p.m. hearing, is the court's response to a 2017 complaint filed by an obstetrician who was charged in 2013 for performing an abortion with the woman's consent.
The doctor claimed that the Article 270 of the Criminal Code, which states that a physician shall be imprisoned for up to two years for the offense, infringes upon the woman's right to a free choice.
Aborting an unborn fetus is punishable by a prison term of up to one year or a 2 million-won ($1,750) fine under the Mother and Child Health Law enacted in 1953.
The Constitutional Court upheld the law in a 4-4 vote when it last reviewed its constitutionality in August 2012. Two-thirds of the nine-justice panel are required to reverse the ruling.
It ruled that a fetus's right to life must be protected and that is no less important than a woman's right to make a free choice. Not punishing abortion as a criminal offense would also make the procedure pervasive in society, the court said.
Legal experts have predicted Thursday's ruling would likely be different. That the court might acknowledge that the current anti-abortion law is not entirely in line with the Constitution, given the change in public perception and social climate over time.
Critics question the law's effectiveness since few people are actually being punished for abortion. According to prosecution data, there were just about 15 cases of indictment for abortion every year since 2015, and many of them received suspended sentences.
A survey by Gallup Korea conducted last month showed 45 percent of the respondents agreed that an abortion is another word for murder, a decline from 53 percent in 2016 and 78 percent in 1994.
In a 2017 survey by Realmeter, 52 percent said the law should be abolished, an outright reversal from the 53 percent opposition from the 2010 poll.
The court decision also comes at a time when Korea is struggling to cope with a low birthrate. South Korea's fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her life, stood at 0.98 in 2018, the lowest among the OECD nations. (Yonhap)
