Police to probe YouTube video of abortion at 36 weeks

Abortion is neither legal nor illegal in Korea

A screenshot of a video uploaded by a 24-year-old woman on YouTube claiming that she had undergone an abortion. (Screenshot captured from YouTube)

The police said they are to investigate a YouTuber who posted a controversial video of her going through an abortion at 36 weeks of pregnancy last month.

In an unprecedented move on Monday, police vowed a "thorough crackdown" on the YouTuber, noting that it plans to take stern measures against the issue compared to other cases involving abortion.

Officials made the remarks after the Health Ministry said it requested a thorough investigation by the police into the woman and the doctor last Thursday after it reviewed a court ruling that applied murder charges to a doctor who performed an abortion on a 34-week-old fetus.

"According to an expert opinion, a fetus at 36 weeks can come out of (the mother's) womb and survive without requiring further developmental support," Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho told reporters during Monday's regular press briefing.

At 36 weeks, or the ninth month of pregnancy, the baby's lungs are mature enough to breathe outside the womb without any help, as well as able to suck and digest breast milk.

"Historically accepted theories and legal precedents regarding abortion do not classify it as murder, but suggest that a detailed investigation into the specific circumstances surrounding each (abortion) case is necessary to fully grasp the situation," Cho explained.

He added that police would consider applying legal charges after conducting a detailed probe into the circumstances surrounding the baby's death by involving different scenarios, such as whether the death had happened inside or outside the uterus, declining to comment further.

The warning comes after a woman who described herself as a 24-year-old uploaded a video to her YouTube channel on June 27 claiming that she had undergone abortion surgery at 36 weeks. She claimed that she was "unaware" of being pregnant until the last stage.

"When my period stopped for a long time in March this year, I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, so I never ever thought of being pregnant. But I found out later when I visited an internal medicine clinic," she said.

In a scene where she visited the obstetrics and gynecology hospital, the video also revealed that the fetus's head diameter was 8.89 centimeters at that time, as shown by the ultrasound, and the baby's heart rate pattern was normal.

In addition, she wrote in her video that she regrets the negative outcome caused by her thoughtless and careless behavior, adding that it cost her 9 million won ($6,495) and five days at the hospital.

She recently took it down after the 20-minute-long video ignited public fury, with some commenting that late-term abortion is murder and criticizing her unethical behavior.

Abortion is neither legal nor illegal in Korea, despite the country's decades-old abortion ban, Act 269 of the Criminal Act, being ruled unconstitutional in April 2019. The Constitutional Court mandated that the National Assembly then revise the Criminal Act by Dec. 31, 2020.

However, the revision bills failed to pass before the deadline, technically nullifying abortion as a criminal offense on Jan. 1, 2021. Despite 17 proposed bills in the National Assembly to allow safe abortions, discussions have stalled with no progress. Without new laws clarifying the situation, women cannot legally be provided with any abortion services, such as affordable procedures or safe abortion pills.

By Park Jun-hee(junheee@heraldcorp.com)