By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
The abortion rate of women who have sons is higher than those who have daughters. This was the finding of the College of Health Science at Yonsei University.
Professor Chung Woo-jin of the school has studied the delivery statistics of more than 6,000 women aged between 15 and 49 and found that a preference for sons along with religious beliefs greatly influenced the decision of women to seek abortions. Research results will be published in an international magazine, ``Journal of Biosocial Science,’’ next month.
In particular, women who have only sons have seen a 3.2-fold higher abortion rate than those who have only daughters. The abortion rate for women having only one son was 16.5 percent while that of women who have more than two sons was 71.7 percent.
In contrast the abortion rate for women who have only daughters was 15.9 percent while those with more than two daughters was 42.4 percent. Prof. Chung said that the result indicates that women having sons are more likely to seek abortions.
Religious beliefs of the women also seem to influence the decision to have an abortion. Buddhists and Confucians have shown higher abortion rates than Christians. The former group tend to seek abortion 2.6 times more than the latter when they have sons or more than two children.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been working on easing punishment for doctors who violate the law banning tests to discover the sex of a fetus. According to the ministry’s plan, doctors who violate the law prohibiting sex tests on fetuses will only be subject to a negligence fine, instead of the current three-year imprisonment or up to 10 million won fine.