[Anchor]

Seven years have passed since the Constitutional Court ruled the abortion ban unconstitutional, yet medication for pregnancy termination remains unapproved. While the government stands idle citing a legislative vacuum, women are resorting to injections typically used as chemotherapy drugs to terminate pregnancies.

Morning Zoom-in, reporter Park Ha-jeong investigates.

[Reporter]

At an obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Gyeonggi Province, when asked for a consultation on pregnancy termination, the staff suggests two methods.

[Staff at Clinic A: We offer surgery and an injectable drug. For the injection, the gestational sac must not be visible yet.]

When asked what the injection is, the response was methotrexate, or MTX.

It is a chemotherapy injection used to treat conditions like leukemia and has been prescribed off-label only in cases where the mother is at risk, such as in ectopic pregnancies.

[Staff at Clinic A: You can expect it to cost 850,000 won. You will receive two injections. It is not so much about whether it is good or bad for your body, but it lowers your immunity. In any case, it kills healthy cells as well.]

Some clinics even advertise that they provide this injection for pregnancy termination even when it is not an ectopic pregnancy.

[Staff at Clinic B: (I heard this is only for ectopic pregnancies, is it possible even if it is not?) Yes, many people who find surgery burdensome in the early stages do this.]

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has previously warned that this injection can cause adverse reactions such as fetal deformities or ovarian dysfunction.

Nevertheless, the biggest reason women keep this injection as an option is that pregnancy termination pills like Mifegyne have not been approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Since the 2019 ruling that the punishment for abortion was unconstitutional, the Ministry has maintained the position that legal amendments, such as determining from how many weeks of pregnancy medication can be used, must come first.

In the meantime, while pregnancy termination medication is permitted in 101 countries around the world, women in Korea are purchasing unverified products on the black market without medical diagnosis or prescriptions, or are seeking potentially dangerous chemotherapy injections.

[President Lee Jae-myung (July 14, Cabinet Meeting): By leaving it outside the law, the government may avoid responsibility, but the public is being put at risk.]

Relevant ministries have belatedly begun working-level discussions. As the introduction of pregnancy termination medication is specified as a national policy task, swift and responsible measures appear necessary.

Reported by Park Ha-jeong | Video by Yoon Tae-ho | VJ by Shin So-young and Oh Se-gwan | Graphics by Han Heung-soo