• Proceedings of the KHMA Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.270-270
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• 2011

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of attitudes toward reasons for which abortion is permitted on needs for abortion prevention policies among 232 unmarried female students at the middle schools, high schools, and universities located in Seoul. The respondents were requested to complete the self-administered questionnaire, and the principal component analysis, t-tests, Pearson's correlations, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed for analyzing data. The major findings of this study were as follows: First, the principal component analysis identified three reasons for which abortion is permitted. These are reasons under the maternal & child health law, socioeconomic reasons, and normatively unqualified reasons. Second, the female students showed permissive attitudes toward reasons for abortion under the maternal & child health law, disapproval attitudes toward socioeconomic reasons for abortion, and neutral attitudes toward abortion by normatively unqualified reasons. Students also showed high levels of needs for abortion prevention policies. Finally, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that female students' attitudes toward reasons for which abortion is permitted significantly predicted levels of needs for abortion prevention policies, after controlling their sciodemographic characteristics. The implications of the study results are discussed.

• Issues in Feminism
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.123-158
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• 2010

For the last several months, abortion debates have sparkled in Korea. The government has escalated the need of active punishment of illegal abortions to solve low fertility problems, while some obstetricians and gynecologist have proclaimed stoppage of illegal abortions suing colleague doctors who has conducted illegal abortions. Women's rights groups and researchers have also responded to the abortion debate claiming that women's decisions over their pregnancy are important in making of abortion policies. To contribute to Korean abortion debates, his paper aims to analyze European experiences of abortion polices in relation to the consequences on women's health. For the analysis of European abortion experiences, three countries - Ireland, U.K, and Netherland -are chosen. These three countries are selected since their legal and social acceptance of abortion and the level of safe abortion system are different. Each country is reviewed by national abortion policy, legal regulation, medical system and the role of civil society. The analysis shows several implications for abortion debates occurring in Korea. Various systematic policy mechanisms - abortion on women' request, abortions without complicated doctor's referrals, transparent and anonymous counseling and information provision regarding abortion, training and education for medical professionals to guarantee high quality abortion, abortions funded publicly for women to improve their access to abortions, steady monitoring and auditing abortion procedures and outcomes for safe abortion and so on - are required in Korean society. Two track procedures - safe abortion on women's request and prevention of unwanted pregnancy - are needed for reproduction of healthy women and society.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.241-246
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• 2017

Background: The purpose of this study is to investigate the trends on the induced abortion in Korea using social big-data and confirm whether there was time series trends and seasonal characteristics in induced abortion. Methods: From October 1, 2007 to October 24, 2016, we used Naver's data lab query, and the search word was 'induced abortion' in Korean. The average trend of each year was analyzed and the seasonality was analyzed using the cosinor model. Results: There was no significant changes in search volume of abortion during that period. Monthly search volume was the highest in May followed by the order of June and April. On the other hand, the lowest month was December followed by the order of January, and September. The cosinor analysis showed statistically significant seasonal variations (amplitude, 4.46; confidence interval, 1.46-7.47; p< 0.0036). The search volume for induced abortion gradually increased to the lowest point at the end of November and was the highest at the end of May and declined again from June. Conclusion: There has been no significant changes in induced abortion for the past nine years, and seasonal changes in induced abortion have been identified. Therefore, considering the seasonality of the intervention program for the prevention of induced abortion, it will be effective to concentrate on the induced abortion from March to May.