South Korea plans to let women buy abortion pills for the first time ever, seven years after its top court struck down the country’s abortion ban and left the law in limbo.
Quick Take
- South Korea’s government aims to approve abortion pills by the first quarter of 2027.
- Women up to nine weeks pregnant could get the drug with a prescription, but only through hospitals or clinics.
- The plan follows a 2019 Constitutional Court ruling that struck down the abortion ban, yet lawmakers never passed a replacement law.
- Drugmaker Hyundai Pharmaceutical has tried three times since 2021 to get its pill approved.
- Officials say the first two years of sales will be tightly controlled, and rules for minors are still being worked out.
Government Sets Timeline for Rollout
Won Min-kyong, South Korea’s Minister of Gender Equality and Family, announced this week that women up to nine weeks pregnant could get abortion pills through a doctor’s prescription. She said the first rollout will start in early 2027 and last at least two years. The pills would only be sold through hospitals or clinics during that stretch, not over the counter or online.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family jointly announced the plan at a briefing in Seoul on September 16. For years, these agencies had insisted that lawmakers needed to pass new legislation before any pill could be approved. That stance has now shifted.
A Seven-Year Legal Gap
South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled in 2019 that the country’s abortion ban violated the constitution. The criminal penalty for abortion officially disappeared in 2021. But the National Assembly never wrote a new law to replace it, leaving doctors, patients, and regulators stuck in a legal gray area for years. Without clear rules, the drug safety ministry kept blocking pill approvals, even though the same medications are sold legally in dozens of other countries.
News outlet SBS has reported multiple times that women faced real risks because of this gap, since abortion pills remained unapproved even though the criminal ban had already fallen. The Ministry of Government Legislation issued an interpretation last month stating the pills could be approved without waiting for new legislation, which appears to have cleared the path for this week’s announcement.
Drug Company’s Long Road to Approval
Hyundai Pharmaceutical has tried three times to get its pill, sold as Mifegyne, approved for use in Korea. The company applied in 2021 and 2023 but withdrew or paused both attempts due to paperwork problems. It filed again in December 2024, and that application is still under review. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety says it plans to review the drug without requiring a separate clinical trial on Korean patients, since it has already been used abroad for decades across many different groups of people.
Restrictions and Unresolved Questions
The plan comes with limits. Only women within nine weeks of pregnancy would qualify, well under the World Health Organization’s 12-week guideline for medication abortion. Sales would happen only at hospitals and clinics for the first two years, not pharmacies. Officials say this cautious approach is meant to prioritize safety while the government builds a supply chain and monitoring system.
One major question remains unsettled: whether minors will need parental consent to get the pills. The government has said it needs more time to study that issue before finalizing rules. Religious groups have voiced opposition to the plan, while some doctors have raised concerns about how the rollout will work in practice.
What the Delay Reflects
The seven-year gap between the court ruling and actual pill approval shows how a legal decision can outpace the laws meant to carry it out. When courts strike down old rules but lawmakers fail to write new ones, agencies and companies are often left guessing what is even allowed. That pattern isn’t unique to South Korea, but it highlights how a broken legislative process can leave citizens waiting years for basic medical decisions to be settled.
S Korea nears approval of abortion pill
South Korea could allow the use of the abortion pill Mifegyne as early as this year, as the government nears the end of its approval review.https://t.co/nMwWcMt9AD— The Asian Feminist / @theasianfeminist.bsky.social (@theasianfmnst) September 16, 2026
For now, the government’s timeline points to a first quarter 2027 launch, with a two-year trial period to follow. Whether that schedule holds will depend on how fast the drug safety ministry finishes its review and how lawmakers handle the remaining questions around minors and long-term access.
Sources:
time.com, en.sedaily.com, news.sbs.co.kr, thestar.com.my
