Unlike in America, where doctors have been threatened and even killed for performing abortions, Shim Sang-duk says he's received death threats for deciding to stop performing them. The controversy illustrates the stark differences between South Korea's attitude toward abortion and that of many Western nations.
While often couched elsewhere as a battle between religious activists and those defending a woman's right to choose, the issue here carries no such emotional freight." Western societies see abortion as one of benchmark battles between conservatives and liberals -- while here there has not been even any academic discussion," said Lee Na-young, a sociology professor at Seoul's Chung-Ang University.
In South Korea, religious groups and women's rights advocates have remained largely silent on the issue, analysts say." During church sermons, we barely talk about abortion, which is considered an individual matter," said Hwang Pil-gyu, a minister on the life and ethics committee of the National Council of Churches in Korea. "Many churches have put this issue on the back burner." LA Times
No comments:
Post a Comment