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Study on Allowed Reasons and Time Limits for Pregnancy Abortion

  • DONG-A LAW REVIEW
  • 2018, (78), pp.27-57
  • DOI : 10.31839/DALR.2018.02.78.27
  • Publisher : The Institute for Legal Studies Dong-A University
  • Research Area : Social Science > Law
  • Received : January 31, 2018
  • Accepted : February 22, 2018
  • Published : February 28, 2018

Park, Nam-Mee 1

1경북대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

By considering both the purpose of an abortion law and the right to life of a fetus, it can not be denied the positive effect of an abortion law. Therefore, the exceptional exemption regulation from the penalty for abortion prohibited by the current criminal law should be revised reasonably. In revising the exceptionally permitted reasons for the abortion as stipulated in Article 14 of the Maternal and Child Health Act, minors and unmarried-mothers should be the first consideration. Mental patients should also be considered because the likelihood of child offenses is very high when a person with a mental illness is a parent. Some argue that social and economic circumstances should be taken into consideration for allowing abortion. But. As such, there is concern that expanding the scope of abortion according to social and economic circumstances may eventually lead to an unlimited expansion. And the expansion of abortion tolerance causes more demand for the national welfare budget. However, considering the current welfare budget of the country, it seems difficult to expand the scope of abortion for social and economic reasons. Next, we examined the time limit for abortion. At present, according to the time limit of artificial abortion operation prescribed in Article 15 (1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Maternal and Child Health Act, the artificial abortion performed according to Article 14 of the Maternal and Child Health Law is allowed only to those who are within 24 weeks of pregnancy. In this regard, it is argued that the selection of abortion should be made possible only in the early pregnancy ages, 10 to 12 weeks by respecting women's self-determination. First, before reviewing the time limit for abortion, it is necessary to orientate the terms of pregnancy time in order to unify the meanings of the contents to be discussed. We mark the time of pregnancy as the gestational age calcurated from the last menstrual period, the fetal age counted since fertilization, or the fetal age reckoned after implantation. Therefore, the unification of the terms for pregnancy time should be solved first. When a person is pregnant, the fertilized egg formed by fertilization develops continuously until birth, through the embryo in which the major vital organs develop and through the fetus in which most of the organs grow. In other words, at the end of the 8th week after fertilization (10th week of pregnancy), the embryo will have all the basically necessary organs for human beings. Thus, as mainly discussed in this paper, allowing abortion at 12 weeks (10 weeks after fertilization or 8 weeks after fertilization) is problematic in that it apparently kills life. Therefore, it is necessary to reconsider the current position of abortion.

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