Korea makes C-sections free for all pregnant women

By Jung Min-ho

The government said Tuesday that C-sections will be made available free of charge to all pregnant women next year as part of its efforts to boost Korea’s birthrate.

At a Cabinet meeting, the enforcement ordinance was approved to reduce the share of costs for individuals receiving the medical procedure to zero from 5 percent. Starting Jan. 1, the National Health Insurance Service will fully cover the expenses.

This announcement comes as more women give birth by C-section. The proportion of those who underwent the procedure exceeded 50 percent for the first time in 2019 and has grown further since. Last year, they accounted for 64.3 percent, in comparison with 35.7 percent who had their children by natural childbirth, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

“This decision was made after collecting opinions from people, many of whom called on the government to expand support for all couples who wish to have children,” the ministry said in a statement.

In another policy announced at a meeting held the same day by the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy, officials said they will help airports across the nation create more child-friendly environments by giving more parking benefits to parents with two or more kids and by setting up more amusement facilities and services for them.

Another important policy change for parents and expectant parents was made the previous day when the National Assembly passed a revision to the medical law that prohibited the disclosure of fetal sex.

With the approval, it is no longer unlawful for doctors to reveal the gender of a fetus before 32 weeks of pregnancy. The legislation followed a verdict by the Constitutional Court in February that found the ban unconstitutional.

The ban was introduced in 1987 when sex-selective abortions were pervasive. It was meant to resolve a sex imbalance by preventing the abortion of female fetuses caused by a preference for sons in the widespread neo-Confucian belief that males carry on family lineage.