South Korea will approve abortion pills

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea intends to approve abortion pills for the first time to promote women's rights to health and safety, deepening debates over abortions in the Asian country.

Key points

• In a landmark ruling in 2019, South Korea's Constitutional Court ordered the easing of the decades-old ban on most abortions, one of the strictest in the developed world.
• The administration unveiled Wednesday that it intends to allow medication abortions for women who are up to nine weeks pregnant by the first quarter of 2027.
• Some women have turned to unauthorized online channels to obtain abortion drugs whose safety is not verified.

What happened

In a landmark ruling in 2019, South Korea's Constitutional Court ordered the easing of the decades-old ban on most abortions, one of the strictest in the developed world. As opposition remains solid among numerous religious and conservative groups, abortion was subsequently decriminalized, but parliament has yet to revise related legislation.

Some women have turned to unauthorized online channels to obtain abortion drugs whose safety is not verified. The legislative gap has additionally undermined women's rights to choose surgical or medication abortions and caused some confusion in the medical field.

In practice, the administration unveiled Wednesday that it intends to allow medication abortions for women who are up to nine weeks pregnant by the first quarter of 2027. According to authorities, for the first two years, abortion pills would be directly prescribed and dispensed by doctors.

The bottom line

For now, south Korea will approve abortion pills remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.