By Kim Junghyun SEOUL, March 3 (Xinhua) -- For a country where some say more than 1,000 fetuses are illegally killed every day with a virtual green light from the government, abortion debate that has just begun here might seem a little too belated. But doctors at the front of the anti-abortion campaign and the debate, some of them admitting to having performed more abortions than deliveries in the past, are determined to seek a radical change to the whole abortion picture in which the law banning abortions has long been brushed off as titular in nature. ABORTION CRITICS SPEAKING UP 'I am no longer proud of being a doctor, as I had long been bent on making money instead of helping women crying tears of suffering,'obstetrician Shim Sang-duk of Pro-Life Doctors, a group of obstetrician-gynecologists pushing for ending illegal abortion practices where he sits as a senior member, recently wrote. Risking being ostracized by other doctors, for whom illegal abortions have been a profitable business in the face of falling birth rates, members of the group last month went as far as to publicly name three clinics for performing abortions, alarming the country's ob-gyn community. The group also made policy suggestions, calling on the government to quintuple financial support for women who give birth, provide financial subsidies to families with two or more children, and draw up laws banning discrimination against single mothers. In the country where abortion issues never were at the center of the mainstream debate, the group's campaign, despite being a seemingly fringe movement at the moment, has succeeded in garnering enough traction to get their point across. ABORTION AND BIRTH RATES The new drive to put an end to most abortions comes just at a time when the government is also moving to shed its 'abortion republic' tag and boost the country's one of the lowest birth rates in the world. While the fertility rate in this rapidly aging society dropped to the average of 1.15 live births per woman last year, the latest statistics show 342,000 abortions were performed in 2005, a whopping 77 percent of the number of newborn babies that year. In the same year, merely 4.4 percent of the total abortions performed were technically legal under the Mother and Child Health Law here, which allows abortions only in cases of rape, incest or possibly serious genetic disorder or when the mother's health is at risk. Seeing a crackdown on illegal abortions a way to lift the low fertility rate, South Korean health authorities earlier this week came up with comprehensive measures against abortions, which include a 'call center' that rewards informants giving tip-offs on illegal abortion practitioners and measures to criminally charge hospitals performing such procedures. The (South) Korea Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (KAOG) is also enforcing a so-called 'three strikes' system against clinics advertizing abortions, which threatens to kick obstetricians and clinics out of the association if caught in red for the third time. MULTI-FACETED REALITY But the association, on the other hand, says it is 'infuriated' at what they call 'near-sightedness' of the Pro-Life Doctors. 'Using forcible means such as criminally charging and punishing abortion practitioners to address abortion issues does not have a lasting effect. It won't be necessary to cite the public opinion to prove that education on sex and use of contraceptives is an effective long-term solution,' the KAOG recently said in a statement. Many women's rights activists here are also riled at the pro- life uprising, claiming social stigma attached to being a single parent and high cost of raising a child coupled with a slowing economy should be tackled first in order to prevent back-alley clinics from emerging as an alternative for women. They also see it a violation of women's human rights. 'Pro-Life Doctors is turning its back on desperate and urgent needs of women who have to choose abortions. The organization also disrespects a woman's right to control her body and make reproductive decisions for herself,' said the (South) Korean Women 's Association United, a women's rights advocacy group consisting of 27 member organizations. Meanwhile, an opinion poll released Wednesday by an Internet portal service showed 78 percent of the female respondents believe abortions should be partially permitted, while 26 percent said a possibly stricter ban on abortion, if implemented, would lead them to resort to black market clinics or go abroad for abortion. 