South Korea woman and doctors guilty of murder after killing newborn baby

A South Korean court has convicted a woman of murder after she delivered a baby that was later killed.

The woman had wanted to terminate the pregnancy at 36 weeks. The surgeon who operated on her and the director of the hospital were also found guilty of murder. They were sentenced to four and six years in prison respectively.

The case has highlighted the legal limbo surrounding abortion regulations in South Korea after its Constitutional Court struck down a ban on the procedure in 2019.

Since then, abortions have existed in a legal grey area, as there are no official restrictions on how far into the pregnancy it can be carried out.

Warning: This story contains details some readers will find distressing

Prosecutors said the baby was born alive through a Caesarean section and placed in a freezer until it died.

The woman, in her 20s and identified by her surname Kwon, argued that she did not know the procedure would be carried out that way.

On Wednesday Kwon was handed a three-year suspended jail sentence. She has also been ordered to do 200 hours of social service work.

In 2024, Kwon posted a YouTube video about how she terminated her pregnancy at 36 weeks. The video triggered public uproar and a criminal complaint from the health ministry. Police then launched an investigation into her and her doctor.

Prosecutors said that after the woman's baby was born alive, the hospital's director and the surgeon put it into a freezer, where it died.

The hospital staff then falsified Kwon's medical records to make it look like she had a stillbirth, prosecutors said.

During the trial, the hospital director and surgeon admitted to killing the baby. They were taken into custody immediately after the judge read out the verdict.

The hospital had allegedly received a total of 1.4 billion won to perform abortions on more than 500 patients, prosecutors said. Their patients, like Kwon, had been introduced to the hospital through brokers.

In January, prosecutors sought a 10-year prison sentence for the hospital's director, and six years in prison for Kwon and the surgeon who operated on her.

Kwon's lawyer argued that she did not know that the baby would be killed after being removed from her womb.

Kwon told the court that she had only learned of her pregnancy seven months in, and sought abortion because she had no stable income. She also feared the baby would be born with defects as she had drunk alcohol and smoked throughout her pregnancy, she said.

On Wednesday, the judge found that Kwon had been informed by medical staff that her baby was healthy, and she had also heard its heartbeat via ultrasound. The judge also found that she knew the baby would be born alive through Caesarean section.

However, the legal vacuum surrounding abortions in South Korea was taken into consideration during Kwon's sentencing, as she could not receive support to navigate her late-stage pregnancy, the judge added.

The judge said that although this was a crime that deserved a harsh penalty, they were exercising leniency considering the lack of society's support for mothers in situations like this.

In 2019, South Korea's Constitutional Court removed a long-standing ban on abortion and gave lawmakers until the end of 2020 to revise the laws. The court recommended that the parliament amend the law to allow abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.

In 2020, the government drafted legislation that permitted abortion up to 14 weeks - or up to 24 weeks in special cases, such as health reasons or if the pregnancy was a result of rape.

However, that bill was held by a gridlock in parliament. By the time the ban's removal took effect in 2021, the country was left with no legislation to regulate abortion.

As a result, prosecutors have pressed murder charges in cases of late-stage abortion, by arguing that the baby was killed outside the womb.