The Western Confucian has a series of links reporting on the practice of abortion in South Korea.  It seems that it is widely accepted by both men and women and commonly performed, even though it is restricted, by law, only to those cases where the mother’s life or health is in danger.  There is no "abortion on demand" under South Korean law.  Yet, by one account, there are more abortions annually in South Korea than in the US, and the latter has more permissive laws and a much larger population.

      When I see these data I am reminded of the line about South Korea: "the most Confucian country in the world."  I wonder, then, how this cultural generalization might relate to the social acceptance of abortion there.

     On the face of it, the practice of abortion in South Korea appears to confirm my suspicion that a modernized Confucianism would be tolerant of the procedure if it is justified in terms of existing social relationships.  For example, if a woman argues that she could not care for her other children or carry out other family duties, perhaps the regulating authorities would then be willing to look the other way, or invent a threat to the woman’s life or health, to facilitate an abortion.  The law, in and of itself, seems not to be an obstacle – if the numbers are true.  There must be some socio-cultural process at works that encourages the skirting of the law.    And Confucian sociality may be a part of that process.

      The Western Confucian also points out that Buddhist attitudes, which recognize the fetus as a living thing deserving of veneration and respect, are weaker in South Korea than in Japan – as indicated by fewer Buddhist temples displaying the small, clothed statues memorializing individual fetuses.  This point, too, would tend to confirm the role of Confucian thinking in South Korea.

      I would not go so far as to say that Confucian attitudes "cause" abortion in South Korea – the broader forces of modernization are clearly in play.  But, at the very least, I think we can say that Confucianism is tolerant of abortion under certain circumstances.