Mifepristone Up to 9 Weeks of Pregnancy Set to Be Permitted 7 Years After Constitutional Court Ruling

[Anchor]

As we have reported on several occasions, seven years have passed since the Constitutional Court ruled the punishment for the crime of abortion unconstitutional, yet women have been forced to take risks because abortion pills remain unapproved. It has now been learned that the government has recently set a policy direction toward allowing these medications.

Reporter Park Ha-jeong investigates the government's specific moves to supplement the institutional framework.

[Reporter]

Some acquire and take drugs of unknown exact ingredients from social media.

[Seller: Another high school student bought them, and after about two or three weeks, everything (the abortion) was done.]

Others even receive anti-cancer injections used for leukemia treatment that carry risks of side effects.

[Nurse: What you can do with an injection is that the gestational sac must not be visible.]

This is the reality that women in South Korea are enduring in 2026 when trying to terminate a pregnancy.

This is because, even seven years after the Constitutional Court ruled that punishing the crime of abortion violates the Constitution, alternative legislation making medical abortion possible has not been enacted.

Citing this reason, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has also refrained from approving medication-based abortion drugs like Mifepristone, which are sold legally overseas.

[President Lee Jae-myung (Cabinet Meeting (Last July)): By leaving it outside the law, the government may evade responsibility, but the public is put in danger.]

Subsequently, the Ministry of Government Legislation issued an interpretation last month stating that medical abortion drugs can be approved even before a law amendment is passed, and it has been confirmed that the government has decided to allow the use of medical abortion drugs strictly limited to early pregnancies within 9 weeks.

In the case of Mifepristone, clinical trial results have been reported showing a termination success rate of 94.9% to 97.3% within 9 weeks of pregnancy.

Regarding pharmacists, taking into account that the punishment for the crime of abortion has not been abolished, a method where hospitals handle both prescription and dispensing internally for a period of two years is being reviewed.

[Lee Jae-kwan / Chairman of the Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology: In-house prescriptions are necessary for safe management. The point of whether it should be 9 weeks or 10 weeks lies in finding the optimal intersection between how to administer treatment safely and patient accessibility.]

While opposition from religious circles remains a variable, the medical community maintains the stance that safety measures must be strengthened, such as limiting prescriptions to obstetrician-gynecologists.

(Video by Jeon Min-gyu | Design by Lee Ga-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.