Feminists For Choice

Pro-choice activists have been up in arms lately about not only the Stupak-Pitts amendment, but the increasingly violent framework in which the abortion debate has been situated. Interestingly enough, the climate seems to be quite the opposite in South Korea. Unlike in the United States, where doctors have been threatened daily and even killed for performing abortions, obstetrician Shim Sang-duk claims that doctors who refuse reproductive services in his country are more likely to be on the receiving end of violent threats and harassment.

Shim Sang-duk, once providing a much needed service to countless women, recently decided that abortion wasn’t his thing anymore. Two months ago Shim founded an activist group of physicians that refuse to provide abortions. On top of that, the group also advocates prosecution for any doctors that do provide reproductive services. Ugh.

As a result, the Korean Assn. of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, representing more than 4,000 physicians in South Korea, responded with outrage and criticism. In addition, Shim Sang-duk’s clinic has suffered tremendously. The clinic has lost so many patients that the clinic may be forced to close down completely.

Although abortion is technically illegal in South Korea, abortion, for the most part, is pretty accessible. I don’t know much about the ins and outs of abortion in South Korea, however; it seems as though the majority of its citizens value abortion as a private issue between a woman and her doctor. John M. Glionna states in an LA times article,

The controversy illustrates the stark differences between South Korea’s attitude toward abortion and that of many Western nations. While often couched elsewhere as a battle between religious activists and those defending a woman’s right to choose, the issue here carries no such emotional freight.

“Western societies see abortion as one of benchmark battles between conservatives and liberals — while here there has not been even any academic discussion,” said Lee Na-young, a sociology professor at Seoul’s Chung-Ang University.

In South Korea, religious groups and women’s rights advocates have remained largely silent on the issue, analysts say.

“During church sermons, we barely talk about abortion, which is considered an individual matter,” said Hwang Pil-gyu, a minister on the life and ethics committee of the National Council of Churches in Korea. “Many churches have put this issue on the back burner.”

It’s interesting how seemingly different our struggles seem to be. In the United States, where abortion is constitutionally legal, restrictions on reproductive rights are at an all time high. In South Korea, on the other hand, abortion is illegal and yet relatively accessible. Clinics operate entirely in the open, and although abortion has been illegal for almost as long as South Korea has existed, in an uneasy compromise, law enforcement officials have been willing to look the other way as long as the procedure is performed by qualified doctors. Additionally, women’s rights groups have been lobbying to widen the conditions under which abortion is permitted.

The most unfortunate conclusion I came to about the abortion debate in South Korea is that, regardless of the force of doctors interested in the lucrative benefits of providing abortion services, very few physicians and/or legislators have couched this debate in terms of women’s rights. Doctors debate about the money while legislators argue over fertility rates and overpopulation. An occurrence relatively similar to our experience in the United States.

Don’t get me wrong – women’s rights groups have been working tirelessly to protect reproductive freedom in the United States. Nevertheless, if your not involved in the feminist debate surrounding choice, you’ve likely only heard hyperbole about science and the life of the fetus – all of which completely pathologize women. It’s disheartening how little attention is given to the struggles, experiences, and rights of the countless women who have to make difficult choices about their own bodies.

I’m not quite sure where South Korea will go from here in terms of the abortion debate. Although many public health officials have been pushing for changes in current abortion law, they face an uphill battle; a strong anti-choice lobby in a country with one of Asia’s largest percentage of christians. In addition, although abortion has remained a rather silent issue, politically, Shim’s campaign has triggered a rare and frightening public debate on abortion.