SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea plans to approve abortion pills for the first time to promote women’s rights to health and safety, deepening debates over abortions in the Asian country.
In a landmark ruling in 2019, South Korea’s Constitutional Court ordered the easing of the decades-old ban on most abortions, one of the strictest in the developed world. Abortion was subsequently decriminalized, but parliament has yet to revise related legislation, as opposition remains strong among many religious and conservative groups.
Some women have turned to unauthorized online channels to get abortion drugs whose safety is not verified. The legislative gap has also undermined women's rights to choose surgical or medication abortions and caused some confusion in the medical field.
The government announced Wednesday that it aims to allow medication abortions for women who are up to nine weeks pregnant by the first quarter of 2027. Officials said that for the first two years, abortion pills would be directly prescribed and dispensed by doctors.
“This introduction of medication abortion is significant because it's a step to make sure that ending pregnancy is done more safely and within the national healthcare system, and to improve the situation caused by a lack of an effective government oversight system,” Gender Equality and Family Minister Won Min-kyong told a news conference.
The step is designed to approve a local company's application for an import of a two-drug combination pack consisting of mifepristone and misoprostol. Misoprostol, which is used to treat stomach ulcers, can cause abortions on its own but is less effective than when it's not taken with mifepristone. A combination of mifepristone and misoprostol is the most common regimen for pills in the United States.
In July, President Lee Jae Myung, a liberal, instructed officials to explore ways to allow women to use the two-drug combination pack. As of 2024, about 100 countries have permitted the use of abortion pills, according to the gender ministry.
The Korea Women’s Associations United, a major women's rights organization in Seoul, called the announcement “a first step toward supporting a safe ending of pregnancy.” It urged the government to take additional measures to help women get abortion pills more swiftly and ensure their expenses are covered by the national health insurance system.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea expressed “deep concerns” about the government plan, saying it “will further entrench a disregard for human lives in our society.”
The Korean Association of Obstetricians & Gynecologists said the government step isn't enough to resolve many potential issues over abortion pills and called for legislations to address them. It cited institutional safeguards that can deal with complications caused by use of abortion pills like incomplete miscarriage and heavy bleeding, and legal grounds to protect doctors from possible criminal prosecutions for prescribing abortion pills for social and economic reasons.
“We will never accept any introduction of abortion pills that does not guarantee safety of patients and legal protections of medical professionals,” the doctors' association said in a statement.
South Korean Gender Equality and Family Minister Won Min-kyong, center, speaks during a press briefing on the introduction of abortion pills at the Government Complex in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (Ahn Jeong-won/Yonhap via AP)
CAIRO (AP) — As Houthi rebels closed in, Eshraq Abdel Gelil and her husband fled their home, walking through the mountains before catching a ride to a nearby city. Four months pregnant, she feared another miscarriage.
They are among more than 125,000 people who have fled as the Iran-backed rebels have advanced down the Red Sea coast to a key maritime chokepoint. The offensive, linked to the wider Iran war, has threatened Saudi oil exports, pushed up global fuel prices and rattled markets.
The cost has been far greater for Yemenis caught in the crossfire. Many have fled their homes with only what they could carry. The Arab world’s poorest country was pushed to the brink of famine in an earlier phase of the civil war, which killed an estimated 150,000 people.
A Saudi-led blockade, along with the Houthis’ repressive rule and detention of U.N. and aid workers, has made life miserable in the now-expanding territory under rebel control. Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, weak and fragmented, has struggled to push them back.
Abdel Gelil is now sheltering with family in the southwestern city of Taiz, while others are sleeping in the streets or erecting makeshift tents out of plastic.
Her husband, Mohamed Thabet, said the latest fighting was “extremely fierce” and more intense than a battle in 2017 that had also forced him to flee. “There was shelling and shrapnel near the house,” he said.
They walked for 5 kilometers (3 miles) before taking a vehicle for around 60 kilometers (37 miles) on mountain roads.
When they arrived in Taiz, a doctor told them that the baby had moved lower in the womb. Abdel Gelil miscarried at the same point in a previous pregnancy.
“My wife cried from the shock and was very fearful,” Thabet said.
Now they are packed into a home with extended family. They can only afford to eat twice a day, and they worry that Abdel Gelil is not getting enough nutrients for her and the baby.
Thabet also worries about his sister, who hasn't been able to afford her diabetes medication for over a month. She and her two daughters, 8 and 13, have a blood condition that makes them susceptible to anemia, he said.
The civil war dates back to 2014, when the Houthis seized much of northern Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa. Saudi Arabia intervened the following year in support of Yemen's internationally recognized government. A 2022 ceasefire largely halted the fighting.
Hostilities erupted again in July, when the Houthis renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia in what the rebels said was an attempt to lift the blockade. The attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil industry came as the U.S. was having some success in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
The fighting in Yemen has killed eight civilians and wounded another 32, according to the U.N. humanitarian office, which says an estimated 125,000 people have fled their homes. The U.N. children's agency, known as UNICEF, says the displaced include more than 57,000 children.
“This is one of the most fast-moving and volatile displacement waves Yemen has seen in years,” said Obia Achieng, a UNICEF representative in Yemen. “Families are fleeing with little or no warning, often at night, carrying only what they can grab.”
“The situation is particularly concerning because it comes on top of an already severe humanitarian crisis,” Achieng added.
Before the latest fighting, the U.N. had warned that around 5 million Yemenis were experiencing “crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity.”
Milena Murr, of Prosper Global, a humanitarian group previously known as Mercy Corps, said some people arriving in Taiz had walked for over 16 hours, arriving at displacement camps exhausted, dehydrated and with some of the children appearing malnourished.
Iman Abdullahi, country director for CARE, another aid group, said there's an urgent need for food, maternal and newborn healthcare, hygiene supplies, private latrines and mental health support.
“One woman had to wash her only clothes and remain inside her tent until they dried because she had nothing else to wear. Another was forced to flee just two weeks after giving birth,” he said.
Nashwan Ahmed Said was stitching together a tent from plastic wheat sacks. He said this is the third time he's been displaced since the start of the war.
“We are in such a state! We have no home, no toilet, no food and nothing to drink,” he said.
Arwa Ahmed, who was displaced with her five children, said she and her family ate nothing but rice for days.
“We need everything. We need tents, we need food and all the essentials, because we were displaced and took nothing with us,” she said.
Displaced Yemenis prepare their camp in Taiz province, Yemen, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Marzouq Al Jabri)
A displaced person walks through a camp in Taiz province, Yemen, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Marzouq Al Jabri)
Displaced people set their camp in Taiz province, Yemen, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Marzouq Al Jabri)
