Woman from 36-week abortion YouTube video to face criminal charges

Screenshot from a video uploaded on YouTube by a 24-year-old who claims she underwent an abortion (Screenshot from YouTube)

A woman who shared her experience of undergoing an abortion at 36 weeks of pregnancy via YouTube could face criminal charges, along with the doctors who performed the operation, Korean police said Monday.

“The YouTuber and the doctors of the hospital where she underwent the surgery are being investigated as criminal suspects,” a Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency official told reporters on Monday.

In the since-deleted video, a woman who described herself as 24 years old claims to have undergone an abortion at 36 weeks of pregnancy. The 20-minute video was uploaded on June 27, but it was taken down just days later after controversy erupted over its authenticity and the criminal nature of such a late-stage abortion.

The controversy garnered the interest of South Korea’s Health Ministry as well as law enforcement, which began to look into the video.

Police issued a search warrant to Google to track down the YouTuber, but the company reportedly refused to cooperate. Investigators then analyzed YouTube videos and shorts and -- with the help of other agencies -- identified the hospital where the surgery took place.

“We have determined that there is no evidence of tampering with the YouTube video,” the police spokesperson said Monday, confirming its authenticity.

The YouTuber, a woman in her 20s living outside Seoul, has admitted to the abortion. Police have also confirmed the fetus is no longer alive.

Investigators also plan to examine others involved in the surgery, as well as an acquaintance of the YouTuber who is believed to have introduced the hospital to her. The clinic, located in the Seoul metropolitan area, is also under investigation.

Abortion is in a legal gray area in South Korea. Despite a 2019 constitutional ruling that struck down the country’s decades-old abortion ban, the National Assembly failed to enact new legislation by a 2020 deadline.

This has left abortion technically decriminalized, but without legal protections for women seeking the procedure.

While there are no specific laws against abortion, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has requested that this case be investigated as murder. Police are therefore examining the YouTuber and doctors on murder charges.

“We need to conduct a professional medical examination to determine how many weeks along the fetus was, whether it was an abortion, murder or stillbirth,” the police official explained.

The hospital is also under investigation for potential medical law violations. Surveillance cameras are mandatory in operating rooms where general anesthesia is used, but the hospital reportedly lacked such cameras.

By Song Seung-hyun(ssh@heraldcorp.com)