A 20-year-old suspected of having an abortion at 36 weeks, are you shaking? Police identify suspect

Expert: “The fate of the child at the time of birth is key”

Controversy is rising after a woman in her 20s released a video saying, “I had an abortion at 36 weeks of pregnancy.”
 
In this case, which occurred after the abortion law was abolished, the Ministry of Health and Welfare filed a complaint with the police accusing the woman of ‘murder’, and the police announced a strict response policy and began identifying the suspect.
 
According to the police on the 22nd, a mandatory investigation was launched to identify the suspect in the video related to the recent claim by a YouTuber that she had an abortion at 36 weeks of pregnancy.
 
The police, who received an investigation request from the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 12th, assigned the case to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's criminal task force and are speeding up the investigation by investigating a Ministry of Health and Welfare official as the complainant the next day.
 
An official from the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency said at a regular press conference on the 22nd, “We executed a search and seizure warrant last week to identify the suspect.”
 
When asked, “Did they search and seize YouTube Korea?” he answered, “It was a search and seizure of the media where the video was uploaded.”
 
It has not yet been identified who the YouTuber in question is or who the doctor in charge of the abortion procedure was.
 
Regarding this, the official said, "It will take some time to identify the person who posted the video, determine the facts, and determine the status of the fetus." He added, "The exact situation and condition of the fetus must be confirmed before the charge is determined. If the abortion law is found to be unconstitutional and the Ministry of Health and Welfare provides an opinion, we plan to review the law as a murder crime."
 
Meanwhile, an expert who spoke to Segye Ilbo on this day said, “The 36th week of pregnancy is the time when childbirth is possible,” and added, “It appears that whether or not the child dies will determine whether a murder charge is established.”
 
Under the criminal law, abortion was illegal for both the pregnant woman who caused the abortion and the doctor who performed the abortion, but in April 2019, the related article was ruled unconstitutional, and the crime of abortion was eliminated, so there are no punishment provisions.
 
However, an official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, “We requested an investigation by referring to the court precedent that charged a doctor who aborted a 34-week fetus with murder,” and added, “We filed the complaint with the intention of asking for punishment if the facts (such as whether the abortion actually occurred) are correct.”
 
The regulations that were determined to be unconstitutional are criminal laws, and the Enforcement Decree of the Maternal and Child Health Act (Article 15) allows abortions only within 24 weeks of pregnancy. However, abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy is illegal under the Maternal and Child Health Act. Considering that there is no punishment for abortion under the criminal law, the Ministry of Health and Welfare requested an investigation on charges of murder instead of violation of the Maternal and Child Health Act.
 
The legal community considers whether the child died at the time of birth as the key issue.Attorney Na-ri Park of Daeryun Law Firm pointed out, “Under civil law, it is important to determine whether the child was alive at the time of birth. If the child was alive, it can be considered murder.”
 
However, he explained, “If the child was dead, it cannot be considered murder,” and “36 months of pregnancy is the time when you can give birth right away. It is clear that the child was born by cesarean section or induced labor, but there seems to be a high possibility that the child is alive.”
 
He added, “The issue in this case is for the prosecution to understand the records after childbirth,” and added, “It appears that medical records or closed-circuit television (CCTV) can be decisive evidence.”
 
He added, “Actually, if you look at the 2021 case law, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced an obstetrician to prison for causing death by burying the child after giving birth through induced labor at 34 weeks of pregnancy,” adding, “At that time, the crime of abortion had been abolished.”

[View full article] - A 20-year-old suspected of having an abortion at 36 weeks, are you shaking? Police identify suspect (link)