Editorial: Approval of abortion pills, delayed for five years, must not be postponed any longer

A five-year wait for abortion medication approval must end, a South Korean civil society coalition said as it set Sept. 28 as the deadline for action.

The Network for Securing Everyone’s Right to Safe Abortion held a news conference on Sept. 2 outside the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. It urged the ministry to approve the medication by Sept. 28, which is International Safe and Legal Abortion Day. If approval does not come by then, the group said 100 petitioners would visit the ministry the following day.

The coalition’s demand comes as ministries discuss the issue after President Lee Jae-myung ordered the introduction of abortion medication in July. On Aug. 19, the Ministry of Government Legislation interpreted existing law as allowing the medication to be imported without a legal amendment. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Ministry of Government Legislation and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family are now holding consultations under the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

The editorial criticizes both the National Assembly, which it says has delayed alternative legislation in the name of “social consensus,” and the government, which has failed to build a healthcare system while insisting legislation must come first. It says the ministry has kept blocking approval for medication designated an essential medicine by the World Health Organization in 2005, leaving women to buy expensive drugs through unofficial channels without confirmed safety and effectiveness.

It calls for rapid review based on scientific evidence gathered overseas and for a healthcare system that provides abortion consultations and prescriptions without discrimination based on socioeconomic status. Questions over permitted gestational limits, prescription rules, health insurance coverage and prices remain. The editorial urges officials to reduce unnecessary procedures and costs, while calling on the National Assembly to revise the Criminal Act and Mother and Child Health Act.

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The government’s continued neglect is irresponsible.