Gyeonggi-do Opens 24-Hour Counseling Hotline for Pregnant Women in Crisis Including 'Unwanted Pregnancy'

Poster Announcing the Opening of Gyeonggi-do Crisis Pregnant Women Safety Consultation Hotline

Gyeonggi Province has established a 24-hour “Crisis Pregnant Women Safety Consultation Hotline (010-4257-7722)” to support unmarried mothers and others struggling with unexpected pregnancy and childbirth, and it will begin operation on the 13th.

Crisis pregnant women refer to pregnant women who are secluded or isolated from family and others, experiencing conflicts over pregnancy and childbirth such as abortion, abandonment, or adoption, and facing social and economic difficulties.

Gyeonggi Province provides consultations not only on their childbirth and parenting issues but also on protection (housing) problems.

Consultations are available via direct phone calls as well as 24-hour counseling through social media platforms like Kakao Channel, and counselors also conduct in-person visits.

The Crisis Pregnant Women Safety Consultation Hotline office is located at the single-parent family welfare facility “Gwangmyeong Aureum,” staffed with four professional counselors.

Through counseling, Gyeonggi Province aims to foster psychological and emotional changes such as empathy, care, respect for life, and self-esteem, and provides support including ▲ pregnancy and childbirth medical expenses (prenatal and postnatal tests and delivery costs), ▲ psychological and emotional treatment support, ▲ newborn care supplies support and health management, ▲ childcare services and protection (housing) support, ▲ legal support, ▲ educational support (alternative schools), and ▲ child protection systems if direct parenting is unavoidable.

Gyeonggi Province also links safety consultations with alternative school curriculum completion to support independence through education and employment, resolving the risk of educational discontinuity while providing career and employment opportunities. To stabilize the parenting environment, various welfare policies are promoted using unmarried mother and child welfare facilities (four childbirth support facilities in the province), independence support funds for those leaving facilities (15 million KRW), and purchased rental housing support.

Additionally, a public-private joint response system is established centered on the safety consultation hotline, involving city and county family centers, multicultural family base institutions, unmarried mother and child welfare facilities, temporary child protection shelters, and single-parent family base institutions.

Earlier, since December last year, Gyeonggi Province gathered opinions through multiple meetings with related experts and institutions to protect crisis pregnant women and infants, collecting views that “consultations are needed that do not reveal my identity but understand and listen carefully to my situation,” and proceeded with the hotline installation.

Crisis pregnant women expressed concerns about society’s prejudiced views toward women who suffer difficulties from unwanted pregnancies and cannot confide in family or anyone else. To avoid such views, they tend to choose seclusion and isolation, even considering not registering the birth of their child.

Yoon Young-mi, Director of the Women and Family Bureau of Gyeonggi Province, stated, “Through safety consultations, crisis pregnant women can express their fears and anxieties about their situations and conditions, and we will strengthen counseling and conduct meticulous case management to provide psychological stability and positive thinking through mutual trust. Please do not hesitate to call anytime with confidence. We will spare no interest and support to help you become a healthy family.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.