Abortion in Menghe
Abortion in Menghe is illegal in most cases, and has been since the reinstatement of the New Criminal Code in 1966. It is only permitted in cases where there is a threat to fetal or maternal life, where the fetus has a significant birth defect or mental illness, and where the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. This policy is partly a result of cultural conservatism among ruling elites, and also reflects the regime's moderately pro-natalist stance on population control.
In recent years, the government has expanded abortion access through legal reform and relaxed medical regulation, and it has tolerated debate on whether abortion should be legal in cases of socio-economic need, but for the moment it remains committed to maintaining the current policy.
History
Menghe's first modern criminal code, passed in 1904, formally outlawed abortion, though it included a clause permitting it as an emergency procedure in the presence of severe medical complications. Prior to that time, Imperial decrees had occasionally pronounced punishments for deliberately induced miscarriage and infanticide, which were common in periods of poverty or famine. This law remained in place with minimal changes up to the fall of the Greater Menghean Empire.
After the end of the Pan-Septentrion War, the Allied Occupation Authority passed an emergency law legalizing abortion in cases of maternal health, rape, and socio-economic need. This law was intended to address overpopulation, which the Allied leadership and their local collaborators believed was a threat to social stability. The Rook Dossier, a collection of documents captured by Menghean insurgents in 1963, purportedly outlined a long-term plan to stabilize Menghe's population and thereby impose definitive control over rural unrest, though the authenticity of certain documents in the dossier is contested. While the 1948 law was fairly progressive for its time, it soon became unpopular in Menghe due to its association with the Allied occupation and its efforts at population control.
The New Criminal Code of the Democratic People's Republic of Menghe, passed in 1966, tightened access to abortion, legalizing it only in cases of maternal life, medical complications to the fetus, and mental health risks. Enforcement of this law varied in intensity; during his time as General-Secretary, Sim Jin-hwan loosened many of the law's supporting regulations, though he stopped short of the 1948 law's extent and did not fundamentally revise the 1966 criminal code. Illegal abortion became widespread during the Menghean famine of 1985-87 as rural families sought to avoid having children which they would be unable to feed, a development which further complicated efforts to evaluate the famine's death toll.
The Interim Council for National Restoration, which was dominated by conservative military officers, decided to keep the 1966 abortion ban in place, despite advocacy by women's health advocates in the wake of a famine. Choe Sŭng-min reportedly remarked in 1994 that fetal life should take precedence even in cases of pregnancy due to sexual crimes, though he later backed down on this issue, and an amendment legalizing abortion in cases of rape and incest was passed in 2003. Enforcement during this period also remained inconsistent; the Disciplined Society campaign targeted, among others, back-street doctors accused of performing illegal abortions, yet Menghean policy bodies broadly interpreted the "medical complications" clause to include most birth defects and mental illnesses.
Current abortion law
By comparison with other countries in Septentrion, Menghe's abortion policy is relatively moderate. Abortion is legal in some circumstances, mainly those dealing with medical complications for the mother or child. It is not available on demand for women who cannot prove medical need or pregnancy due to rape, and abortifacient drugs are not available over the counter.
| Scenario | Legal? | Year of policy | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life-threatening complications for the mother | Yes | since 1966 | |
| Threat to the mother's physical health | Yes | since 1966 | Health need must be approved as serious by medical personnel. |
| Threat to the mother's mental health | Yes | since 1966 | Not directly addressed in written law; approved on a case-by-case basis by medical personnel. |
| Pregnancy due to rape | Yes | since 2003 | |
| Pregnancy due to incest | Yes | since 2003 | Prior to formal legalization, pregnancies due to incest could still be aborted if tests found that the fetus had signs of birth defects. |
| Fetus has birth defects | Yes | since 1996 | Also broadly applied to mental disabilities and certain genetic risk factors. |
| Mother in social or economic need | No | since 1966 | |
| On request (no demonstrated need) | No | since 1904 |
The procedure for defining whether a mother is eligible for one of the legal categories is delegated to medical staff at hospitals and state-run abortion clinics, who follow guidelines laid out by the Ministry of Public Health but ultimately make decisions on a case-by-case basis. This has resulted in a great deal of local variation in actual access to abortion, with some hospitals and clinics more generously interpreting "threats to the mother's health." In general, coastal cities in the Central South offer less restrictive abortion access than rural medical centers in the Southwest and East.
Women who seek abortions are not subjected to legal charges, though doctors who carry out abortions in non-approved cases can face legal punishments and a termination of their medical licenses for violating national law. The penalties are even higher for workers at illegal abortion clinics, who can also be charged with practicing medicine without a license and conducting operations in violation of MPH safety procedures. Although Menghe allows capital punishment in cases involving murder, sentences in abortion cases are restricted to fines and prison time, except in cases where unsanitary operating conditions resulted in the death of more than one woman seeking an abortion. The National Police Agency has organized regular crackdowns on illegal abortion clinics, though these remain widespread, accounting for perhaps as many as two-thirds of all abortions in Menghe in 2015.
Controversies
Women's rights groups have criticized Menghean abortion law for its restrictive nature, and in particular its prohibition on abortion in cases of economic need and premarital pregnancy. The government has responded by strictly curtailing protests and activism on reproductive rights, and by using state propaganda to justify the current anti-abortion policy. Beginning in the 2010s, the Menghe Socialist Party has organized pro-life rallies to justify its stance, and has recruited high-profile female speakers to lead anti-reform activism in an effort to dispel accusations that Menghean abortion restrictions are rooted in oppressive gender roles.
While abortion is illegal under most non-life-threatening circumstances, the "birth defects" clause has been broadly interpreted as permitting abortion in the case of fetuses with any significant genetic disorder. Document 6142, an internal memo circulated within the Ministry of Public Health in 1996, reportedly instructed doctors to recommend abortion to mothers if pre-natal testing revealed any health defects. Some parents have accused doctors of deliberately exaggerating these reports in order to encourage abortion in the case of relatively minor genetic conditions, a charge which the Ministry of Public Health denies. Regime critics view Document 6142 and its continued enforcement as evidence of a deliberate eugenics program intended to stamp out learning impairments and physical disabilities in each cohort of births, while the Menghean Socialist Party remains adamant that abortion in the case of birth defects is entirely optional and up to the parents' discretion.
Reform efforts
Since the early 2000s, the Menghean Socialist Party has gradually loosened state controls on abortion, apparently in a bow to domestic opposition. Abortion in cases of rape was formally legalized in 2003, even though Choe Sŭng-min had opposed such a move in the 1990s. Behind the scenes, the Ministry of Public Health also broadened its internal recommendations on when a medical situation constituted a risk to the mother's life, and increased the availability of abortion services after the crackdown on illegal clinics.
Simultaneously with this gradualist effort, the MSP has staunchly opposed any public demonstrations by abortion-related activist groups. In particular, state media and security forces have attempted to keep abortion within a life-versus-choice frame rather than a gender equality one, and official Party statements openly deny that abortion is a women's rights issue. Similar controls have been imposed on pro-life activism, except where it is voiced through Party-backed organizations.
In 2016, the National Social Consultative Conference held a special hearing on the question of whether to revise Menghe's abortion laws and, if so, what revisions to put in place. This hearing included a discussion with representatives of women's rights advocacy groups who were invited into the meeting hall. The NSCC drafted a preliminary set of guidelines and recommendations for policy evaluation, including a recommendation that advisory bodies further assess the possibility of legalizing abortion in cases of demonstrated economic hardship. Yet it ultimately ultimately tabled the issue for further discussion in the future, and did not formally pass it on to the National Assembly, the only Menghean assembly body with formal legislative power.