South Korea Moves to Approve Abortion Pills by Early 2027

South Korea plans to approve abortion pills for the first time, aiming to make medication abortions available to women who are up to nine weeks pregnant by the first quarter of 2027, the government announced on Wednesday.

The move follows a landmark 2019 Constitutional Court ruling that ordered the easing of a decades-old ban on most abortions, among the strictest in the developed world. Abortion was subsequently decriminalized, but parliament has yet to revise related legislation, with opposition remaining strong among many religious and conservative groups.

Under the plan, abortion pills would be directly prescribed and dispensed by doctors for the first two years. The step is designed to approve a local company's application to import a two-drug combination pack of mifepristone and misoprostol, the most common regimen for medication abortion in the United States. Misoprostol, used to treat stomach ulcers, can cause abortions on its own but is less effective without mifepristone.

Gender Equality and Family Minister Won Min-kyong told a news conference that the introduction of medication abortion is significant because it is a step to ensure that ending a pregnancy is done more safely and within the national healthcare system, and to improve a situation caused by the lack of an effective government oversight system.

In July, President Lee Jae Myung, a liberal, instructed officials to explore ways to allow women to use the two-drug combination pack. As of 2024, about 100 countries have permitted the use of abortion pills, according to the gender ministry.

The legislative gap has left some women turning to unauthorized online channels for abortion drugs whose safety is not verified, and has undermined women's rights to choose surgical or medication abortions while causing confusion in the medical field.

The Korea Women's Associations United, a major women's rights organization in Seoul, called the announcement a first step toward supporting a safe ending of pregnancy. It urged the government to take additional measures to help women obtain abortion pills more swiftly and to ensure their expenses are covered by the national health insurance system.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea expressed deep concerns about the government plan, saying it will further entrench a disregard for human lives in society.

The Korean Association of Obstetricians & Gynecologists said the government step is not enough to resolve many potential issues over abortion pills and called for legislation to address them. It cited the need for institutional safeguards to deal with complications such as incomplete miscarriage and heavy bleeding, and legal grounds to protect doctors from possible criminal prosecutions for prescribing abortion pills for social and economic reasons. The association said it will never accept any introduction of abortion pills that does not guarantee patient safety and legal protections for medical professionals.