Clever Turtles

NY Times is carrying an article on an anti-abortion group in South Korea. Reading the article, it just seemed to scream evangelical Christianity. Evangelical/Charismatic churches have disproportionately high numbers of professionals and every Korean doctor I've seen has had Christian paraphenalia in their office. The article claims the group "has support from Christian activists, but the group says its motivations are not religious and that it has non-Christian members." I'm unconvinced.

Displaying images of fetuses on her computer screen, Dr. Choi Anna described what happens to them during an abortion. For years, she said, she washed her hands in contrition after each one she performed. ... “We sold our soul for money,” said Dr. Choi. “Abortion was an easy way to make money.”

The language, at least in English translation, sounds suspiciously Christ-y. The article goes on to tie the abortion issue with medical industry financial liberalization. People conduct illegal abortions, the argument goes, because illegal procedures yield large profits, while most procedures have price ceilings. Let the market decide prices, and doctors won't take the risk of performing illegal (or quasi-legal, in the case of most abortions -- some rationalization for the mother's health is often given) operations. The whole things sounds, to me at least, like a lot of people are trying to profit by exploiting women's biology.