South Korean police to investigate YouTuber for late-term abortion video as murder investigation

A YouTuber in South Korea has sparked outrage and prompted a police investigation after posting a video claiming to have undergone an abortion at 36 weeks of pregnancy.

The woman, whose identity remains undisclosed, alleged that she discovered her pregnancy very late and decided to terminate it. The video quickly went viral before being removed, but screenshots of the shocking footage spread rapidly across the internet, igniting a heated public debate.

In response to the video, the South Korean health ministry called for a murder investigation, leading the police to book the woman and the head of the medical clinic where the procedure was performed as suspects.

Authorities have confirmed the authenticity of the video and identified the clinic involved through a thorough analysis of the footage. The investigation is still underway, and police suggest that more individuals could be implicated in the case.

This incident has struck a sensitive chord in South Korea, where the legal landscape surrounding abortion has been changing.

Until 2019, the country had some of the strictest abortion laws among developed nations, permitting the procedure only in cases of rape, incest, or serious threats to the mother's health.

However, the Constitutional Court ruled the ban unconstitutional and demanded a revision by the end of 2020, which has not yet been completed.

This legal ambiguity means that while there is no clear restriction on late-term abortions, the police are asserting their authority to investigate such cases.