On June 27, lawmaker Park Ju-min, who was the Democratic Party of Korea’s secretary in the Legislation and Judiciary Committee in the first half of the 21st National Assembly, suggested that lawmakers start by discussing abortion-related legislation first thing when the new parliamentary leadership is formed.

This afternoon, Park wrote on social media, “Let us clearly bring abortion, which is no longer a crime, into the field of health care so that it can be conducted safely.”

Park mentioned that it had been three years since the Constitutional Court decided that treating abortion as a crime was not constitutional and added, “The Constitutional Court requested the National Assembly to amend the law by the end of 2020, and six related bills have been proposed and public discussions on this issue have been held, but we have yet to set any standards for terminating a pregnancy.”

The Democratic Party lawmaker claimed that this was “a dereliction of duty by the National Assembly” and said, “In what is literally a lawless situation, confusion is increasing in the field, and the women’s right to health and right to self-determination are being neglected. As a member of the National Assembly and as a representative who proposed a related bill, I am ashamed and sorry.”

Park explained that he got a sense of urgency when he watched the U.S. Supreme Court make the anachronistic decision to abolish a precedent that legalized abortion (Roe v. Wade) and said, “A while ago, the People Power Party organized a series of seminars on abortion law amendments. The topic was rethinking the distorted basic rights and reproductive rights of women. The current situation in the U.S. may not actually be a distant issue.”

Lawmaker Park said, “We cannot return the right of women, which has grown with the efforts of countless people, back to the past,” and argued, “Ensuring the women’s right to self-determination and their right to health is a constitutional value that cannot be determined according to political camps. We must support it with proper legislation.”

Park asked lawmakers not to neglect the most fundamental duty of the National Assembly and stressed, “This is the reason the National Assembly exists.”