Readers’ VOICE

On abortion ...


If someone tried to kill you while sleeping, what would you do?

Maybe you would shout out “Robber! Help me!” for a neighbor to hear. Or you might call the police.

The baby in a mother’s womb is alive like us. Even if he can’t shout and talk, can we, even their parents, take away their life? We don’t have a right to do this. That is why the relationship is not top to bottom but horizontal.

If have knowledge of the embryo as a major in life science at university.

At 4-8 weeks, most genetic inheritance has been determined already such as sex, skin color and so on.

At 9-11 weeks, an embryo has a partitioned head, legs and hands as surely as we can call an embryo a baby. By this time, the embryo has most of the human characteristics.

The face’s outline has come into view, the teeth are formed in the mouth, the hands have five fingers, and start growing nails. The internal organs are almost formed, even though they are colorless.

At 12-15 weeks, each organ is completely formed so that it functions fully. The heart gets blood to circulate within the body and the skin gets thicker to protect the body from danger.

By 16-19 weeks, the baby moves freely in the amniotic fluid so that it kicks the mother’s abdominal wall. Hearing is developed so that the baby remembers the mother and father’s voice.

Through these processes, after 9 months the baby goes into the world. After knowing these facts, what do you feel? Because the baby is not born yet, can you deprive the baby of life? No. They are not seen only because they are in the mother’s womb. Do you still think the abortion law should be liberalized?

So Kyung-suu, Seoul.



An abortion law should be passed by the Korean government because it relates to women’s lives. If abortion is prohibited by law, all pregnant women are forced to keep their babies even if they don’t want them. I am not saying women do not want to keep them, but sometimes their situation makes this impossible. Financial problems, divorce and AIDS could be reasons for women wanting to escape having their babies. If the government continues to ban abortion by law, and women should bear babies they do not want, those babies’ lives will not be happy. If the government cannot come up with a satisfactory solution for those babies, it could be legalized. However, if you think fetuses in the womb are still human, you should keep in mind another human right, happiness.

Ji Eun-hye, Cheongju