Our country's family planning slogan in the 1970s confirms its population control policy. It started with ‘Have three children’ and changed to ‘Let’s have two children and raise them well, not differentiating between daughters and sons’. In the 1980s, it changed to ‘If we have just one child, all will be well'.
The government not only carried out a national movement to encourage contraception and vasectomies to suppress the population but also implemented a policy to impose additional resident tax and health insurance premiums on families with three children. This population control policy continued until the 1990s, and a positive perception of contraception and vasectomies resulted. At the same time, tacit approval of abortion was deeply rooted in society, and a social atmosphere was formed that made having multiple children unpatriotic.
As the birth rate rapidly decreased in the 2000s, the family planning slogan changed 180 degrees to ‘Something missing with one child, two happy children, three strong children.’ However, people do not consider having multiple children a social obligation or perceive it positively. This means that the social values and attitudes influencing individual choices have changed. There are pros and cons, but our society has become freer and wealthier compared to the past.
On the other hand, we have pursued a strong birth control policy for economic growth. Consequently, we have condoned and encouraged abortion, and as Cardinal Kim Soo-hwan said, “In the end, the fundamental values of human life have been overturned and materialism has become the center, and various social problems have emerged." As a result, the trend of disregarding the lives of the weak and a materialistic way of thinking have spread, and our hearts have become increasingly traumatized. Many people have lost the meaning of life.
In this way, the legislation of the National Assembly and the government's policies are important matters that directly affect our society, each citizen, and our future. However, let's look at recent government policies or legislative proposals of the National Assembly. They are still short-sighted and try to solve problems like in the past.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare expanded the list of genetic diseases that can be tested from 63 in 2009 to 222. The genetic diseases that can be alleviated or treated through this test are extremely limited, and even if there are genetic abnormalities, they are not all manifested. Rather, it is being implemented to screen embryos or fetuses, and there is concern that this policy is being justified from the perspective of comparing the costs and benefits that would arise from giving birth to a baby with developmental defects. This will deepen prejudice against people with disabilities, make childbirth seem like a verification process within the market economic logic of the bio industry, and increase the pressure on women who are pregnant with children that do not meet certain standards to have abortions.
In addition, the partial revision of the Maternal and Child Health Act proposed in the National Assembly in October of last year mainly includes support for unmarried pregnancy procedures to address the issue of ultra-low birth rates. The way of thinking that looked down on fetuses in the past to suppress population growth now treats fetuses as products to pursue happiness for unmarried people and increase numbers.
A substantial medical industry market has been formed in the process of unmarried pregnancy, including sperm and egg trading, in vitro fertilization, genetic testing and gene editing, and surrogacy. Population policies that have lost the dignity of life and the meaning of marriage and family or the pursuit of individual happiness will soon boomerang in our society and cause another social problem. It is an uncomfortable truth but a reality we must deeply reflect on.
