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www.groovekorea.com / May 2014 70 In 2013, Womenlink, Hee-young Kim’s or- ganization, published a book recounting the stories of 25 women who’d undergone the procedure. “I Had an Abortion” features wom- en like Minju Shin* who explain their decisions and relate their experiences. “I was so wor- ried about what other mothers in the hospital would think of me,” she said, “even though I was there with my husband. I felt guilty for some reason. But we were barely making enough money to feed our family ... there simply wasn’t space for another.” Suji Sook* went to the hospital with her hus- band too, but she was lectured about the wick- edness of her ways, “like I was some kind of sexual deviant,” she said. “I apologized again and again, and felt like I owed them some kind of explanation. It was humiliating.” The majority of women in the book who sought out abortion are just like Minju and Suji: over 30, married and a mother already, often more than twice over. In choosing to abort, they cited problems of resources, child care and their own potentially derailed careers as a result of a new baby in the family. Some also ended pregnancies because of advancing age and a fear of birth defects. At age 40, Lucy Kang* decided to terminate her third pregnancy after the doctor expressed concern that the child could have a disabili- ty. “I was older, but I would have never gone through with it if I thought my child could suc- ceed regardless of the circumstances of their birth. Our society discriminates against people from the day they’re born.” Single women reported being made to feel depraved and “easy,” as Song Eun-so de- scribes it. “People are just so conservative … Real women, real choices GYNob actively promotes itself throughout Korea, even asking its members to publicly apologize for having performed abortions in the past, and demanding enforcement of the current laws banning the procedure. The government has different reasons for wanting to continue the ban, Wolman said, adding that the government’s logic is hugely convoluted. “And after the report about the birthrate came out, things really came to a head,” he said. Korea’s birthrate is extremely low, second only to Singapore, a few regions in China (in- cluding Taiwan) and the British Virgin Islands. The average number of children a woman will produce in her fertile years is only 1.24, one of the lowest rates in the world, and, moreover, one of the lowest ever recorded. According to the OECD, the trend will transform Korea from a country with the third-youngest popula- tion as of 2012 to one with the second oldest by 2050. Policymakers, charged with reversing the decline and sufficiently alarmed at the difficul- ty of such a task, have taken some aggres- sive steps to address the problem. Proposals have mostly been monetary in nature, includ- ing huge benefits for third-born children such as completely free education and advantag- es in gaining entry-level employment, special mortgage rates for families with lots of kids and financial support for artificial insemination. Other ideas have ranged from the conven- tional — extending the retirement age and relaxing immigration rules — to the creative. Family Day, a suggestion from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, requests a vol- untary monthly shutdown in offices so work- ers can go home and procreate. And to the great displeasure of many, these plans have also been accompanied by strong antiabortion campaigns. Women’s rights advocates have been quick to spring against these efforts, pointing to the lack of a precedent for the success of such a ban. “There are no other countries in the world where a ban has effectively reduced the rate of abortion. Everyone wants to lower this num- ber, but we’ve got to seek out constructive solutions that don’t denounce women,” said Kim Hee-young of Womenlink, an NGO with 10 branches across Korea. “People are expected to have as many chil- dren as possible now, and they’re even calling women who have more than three ‘patriots.’ Does that mean those who choose not to give birth are traitors? That’s absurd,” Kim said. “According to the government, women are the main reason for the low birthrate,” she added. The government and society prioritize national interests over individual freedoms, which she says “has led the Korean people to perceive women who give up motherhood as enemies. It’s like a scarlet letter.” Womenlink has taken an active role in con- demning the government’s proposals, most notably in 2009, after women in the audience at a Sungshin Women’s University event were asked to swear they’d eventually have babies. Womenlink joined with the Korea Sexual Vio- lence Relief Center to say the birthrate mea- sures were “anti-human rights” and “a por- trayal of women as instruments for childbirth, rather than human beings with reproductive rights.” Kim said that much of the government’s current family planning policy stems from out- dated rules based in Korea’s Confucian past, “causing us to apply a double standard toward women.” Her supposition is supported by a 2011 study in the Journal of Adolescent Health that found eroding Confucian values to have a “distinct association with adolescent or young adults’ sexual behavior.” Four Chinese doctors interviewed over 30,000 never-married young people about their intimate behaviors and discovered that Confucian constraints do, in many cases, act as a safeguard against pre- marital sex, but also that these constraints can “evoke stigmatization.” Kim is not at all surprised. The unequal gender roles of a Confucian society require women to be “rather passive” when it comes to sex, she said. “The double standard comes into play when you see the huge responsibility demanded of women as a result of their sex- ual relationships.” She said the required deference to family and the high value of sexual purity engrained in Confucian beliefs — she explained that some women feign ignorance during sex in order to avoid looking too experienced — con- tribute to making many women feel incredibly Edited by Jenny Na (jenny@groovekorea.com) INSIGHT guilty for terminating a pregnancy, or in some cases, choosing not to. Professor Wolman goes even further: “Al- though it’s tempting to blame the birthrate on the lack of enforcement of antiabortion laws, it’s not necessarily a convincing explanation,” he said. “There are many other causes.” Labor market insecurity, marriage and social trends, distribution of income and changes in educational opportunities are making people think differently about baby-making. Wolman also noted that “banning abortion in order to increase a state’s population has a bad his- tory, used by some of the most coercive and authoritarian regimes.” It was commonly prac- ticed in Stalinist Russia, and more recently in Romania under the Ceausescu administration. ‘The debate centers on whether the government should enforce the existing law. Those in favor of a crackdown come from two camps: government offcials and obstetricians.’ Andrew Wolman, assistant professor of law, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies