Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Judicialization of abortion politics: The case of South Korea’s constitutional review on abortion bans

Löwgren, Josefine LU (2021) STVK02 20211
Department of Political Science
Abstract
This paper researches the Korean Constitutional Court’s decision to legalize abortions in South Korea in 2019. While abortions have been illegal from 1957, the way in which it has been put into practice has varied, as well as the social and political status of abortions. From 2015 and onward, feminist movements started mobilizing a pro-choice movement, without much political response from executive and legislative powers. Turning instead to the Constitutional Court, civil society organizations instead mobilized a form of judicial activism. As the court found the abortion bans nonconforming with the constitution, it became up to the National Assembly to within a set date to revise the law, but no motion ever reached deliberation or a voting... (More)
This paper researches the Korean Constitutional Court’s decision to legalize abortions in South Korea in 2019. While abortions have been illegal from 1957, the way in which it has been put into practice has varied, as well as the social and political status of abortions. From 2015 and onward, feminist movements started mobilizing a pro-choice movement, without much political response from executive and legislative powers. Turning instead to the Constitutional Court, civil society organizations instead mobilized a form of judicial activism. As the court found the abortion bans nonconforming with the constitution, it became up to the National Assembly to within a set date to revise the law, but no motion ever reached deliberation or a voting procedure. As the issue remained ignored, the abortion ban was abolished with no national politics for the legal implementation of abortion. The case showcases how civil society, constitutional courts as well as political representatives interacted in a way that pushed towards judicialization of abortions in Korea, through political blame-shifting, public judicial activism as well as legitimization through vague appeals to the constitution. We can therefore see that in this case how judicialization of politics was used as a political strategy. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Löwgren, Josefine LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK02 20211
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
judicial review, abortion politics, judicialization of politics, constitutional court, judicial politics
language
English
id
9063086
date added to LUP
2021-09-27 14:02:18
date last changed
2021-09-27 14:02:18
@misc{9063086,
  abstract     = {{This paper researches the Korean Constitutional Court’s decision to legalize abortions in South Korea in 2019. While abortions have been illegal from 1957, the way in which it has been put into practice has varied, as well as the social and political status of abortions. From 2015 and onward, feminist movements started mobilizing a pro-choice movement, without much political response from executive and legislative powers. Turning instead to the Constitutional Court, civil society organizations instead mobilized a form of judicial activism. As the court found the abortion bans nonconforming with the constitution, it became up to the National Assembly to within a set date to revise the law, but no motion ever reached deliberation or a voting procedure. As the issue remained ignored, the abortion ban was abolished with no national politics for the legal implementation of abortion. The case showcases how civil society, constitutional courts as well as political representatives interacted in a way that pushed towards judicialization of abortions in Korea, through political blame-shifting, public judicial activism as well as legitimization through vague appeals to the constitution. We can therefore see that in this case how judicialization of politics was used as a political strategy.}},
  author       = {{Löwgren, Josefine}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Judicialization of abortion politics: The case of South Korea’s constitutional review on abortion bans}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}