<Anchor>

Four years ago, the Constitutional Court ruled that the law should be amended within one year, saying it was unconstitutional. So far, the law has not changed. As a result, abortion pills are still needed to be smuggled into drugs as if they were drugs.

This situation and countermeasures, reporter Kang Min-woo covered.

<Reporter>

On April 4, 1, the Constitutional Court ruled that the criminal law offense clause on abortion restricts a pregnant woman's right to self-determination.

The deadline for amendments was set back one year, and for the third year that abortion has been left outside the law, without the National Assembly changing the law.

[Abortion experiencer: Crying as a sinner and not a sinner on a vague boundary that is neither illegal nor legal.]

Different obstetricians and gynecologists have different standards and prices, [Yehoon Choi/Obstetrician-gynecologist (Council of Doctors for Humanitarian Practice): From a place where only 2019 weeks is legal, to a hospital that says that the drug is illegal and only the procedure,

to a hospital that requires the consent of the husband or partner... The medical field is busy.]

In Korea, there are even cases where prohibited abortion-inducing drugs are purchased through SNS as if they were drugs.

[Experienced abortion drug buyers: I'm so desperate that I'm in all sorts of places... This isn't some kind of drug. Why does this have to be a harder deal than drugs? I've been thinking about this a lot.]

I contacted a vendor on Telegram.

If you make a bank transfer of 4,11 won, the Dutch medicine will be delivered within three or four days, and there are even real cases of successful abortions after taking the medicine.

[Lee Dong-geun/Pharmacist (Pharmacy Society for Health and Society): It's hard to see where it was produced, how it was produced, and whether it contains the drugs we think it contains.]

Even under these circumstances, the legislative debate in the National Assembly is virtually at a standstill.

There are 1 alternative bills introduced in the 3st National Assembly, including the government's proposal, but only one public hearing was held three years ago amid political measures conscious of religious opposition, and they were never even discussed in the Standing Committee, which is the first gateway.

There is an opinion that health insurance should be included in the scope of health insurance and managed in a benign manner, but the government is of the position that it is burdensome to apply health insurance on its own before the law is amended.

Both the National Assembly and the government are on their hands, and there are voices that there should be at least some medical guidelines in place as there are significant cases of women aborting at risk right now.

[Our abortions are no longer illegal or secret!]

(Video Interview: Park Hyun-chul and Lee Yong-han, Video Editing: Lee Sang-min)