Crackdown On Illegal Abortions In Thailand

[george]

Crackdown ordered

By The Nation

Published on November 18, 2010

In the wake of Tuesday’s gruesome discovery of a large number of foetuses at a Bangkok temple, Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit yesterday ordered a crackdown on illegal abortion operations across the country as well as on doctors performing unauthorised abortions.

Acting on a presumption the foetuses were extracted through abortion, Jurin said his order also relied on self-confessed accounts by an undertaker at Wat Phai Ngern in Bang Khor Laem district that five abortion clinics near the temple had paid him to cremate or dispose of the foetuses.

The crackdown would extend to registered clinics that may have provided unauthorised medical services. The penalties against violators of all kinds range from suspension or permanent revocation of licence to disciplinary or criminal action, Jurin said.

He said Suthep Chabangbon, the undertaker, had been cooperative and given useful information, which he declined to detail. Suthep reportedly told police a woman came to him two months ago and “deposited a large bag” at the temple. She did this five times for Bt200 each delivery, before she disappeared. Suthep claimed he never suspected what was in the bags nor asked the woman what the cargo was.

A taxi motorcyclist told reporters he took many women, including young ones, to an abortion clinic in Soi Wutthakas 33 off Charan Sanitwong Road. Most of the women looked “all wasted and messed up when they came down after the abortion was complete” as he picked them up for the return trip, he said.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has inspected nine temples in Bang Kho Laem district suspected of having disposed of foetuses. The results are expected to be announced soon.

-- The Nation 2010-11-18

[george]

Foetus find revives abortion issue

By The Nation

Published on November 18, 2010

Following the horrific discovery of 348 foetuses dumped at a Bangkok temple compound on Tuesday, the issue of clinics providing illegal abortions once again emerges, with students admitting they had undergone abortion because they didn’t want to destroy their futures.

A second-year student in the Northeast, Ae (not her real name), said she underwent abortion once when she was in Mathayom 6 and became pregnant after she and her boyfriend had unprotected sex. Not wishing to let her parents know about it, she consulted the boyfriend’s parents and they accompanied her to a place known among locals for conducting abortions. She recalled being given two medicine tablets, after which she had to lie down for 3-7 hours until the foetus came out. The charge was Bt5,000 for a 3-4 month pregnancy.

After the abortion she remained with her boyfriend �" but both have learned the effect unsafe sex can have on their lives and future.

A Bangkok fourth-year student Bee (not her real name) had an abortion last year. She said she and her five-year boyfriend never had a problem with unprotected sex until her period was three-months late and test results showed she was pregnant. She cried with shock and decided to undergo the abortion because she didn’t want her parents to know and be disappointed in her. “I was so afraid but I had to do it. I didn’t want to destroy my future. I’m still studying and am not ready to have a family yet.”

After consulting with her friends, many of whom had experienced abortion, she went to a clinic in Wutthakard area where she underwent a procedure similar to Ae. “I lay down for 3-5 hours after the medicine and I had pain in my lower abdomen and a large blood clot came out. After that I underwent curettage. I was four-months pregnant so I paid Bt8,000-9,000.” Bee urged teenagers to use protection when having sex or they could face life-threatening problems. She urged the government to provide legal facilities for abortion because so many youngsters had this problem.

Coordinator of a network for unprepared pregnant women’s alternatives, Kanrawi Daoreung said Thailand annually had some 200,000 women who got pregnant when they weren’t ready �" and most decided to undergo abortion, which is illegal in Thailand. The law only allows a rape victim, a girl under 15 and those with serious illness to undergo abortion. Urging sex education that would help prevent teenagers’ premature pregnancies, she said the government should provide abortion services because there could be many reasons for unwelcome pregnancies�" such as having too many kids already and the birth control sterilisation didn’t work.

Meanwhile, an anti-violence against women and children campaign was launched yesterday at the Royal Thai Police headquarters to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25.

Thanawadi Thachin, director of the Friends of Women Foundation, said the foetuses’ discovery illustrated that society must educate women about how to prevent accidental pregnancy �" and that the society should accept pregnant schoolgirls could continue their study. Thanawadi also vowed she would push for the violence against children and women issue to be on the national agenda so the government would tackle it seriously.

Pol General Watcharapol Prasanratchakit, a deputy national police chief, said the force’s role was to end violence against children and women. It now had female investigators at some of 1,449 precincts nationwide and female officials would soon be dispatched to other regional offices to help with such cases.

While advocates had called for police to set a good example and conduct investigations into sexual offences, he said disciplinary punishment for sexual harassment was strict and serious. Last year 135 officers faced punishment over sexual offences, while there were 30 such cases so far this year. Officials would apply the Office of the Civil Service Commission’s detailed regulations against sexual harassment, he said.

The Social Development and Human Security Ministry reported there were 28,652 admissions to 62 child and women’ shelters nationwide between 2006 to 2007. It cited a report in 2008 that 80,000 female students became pregnant, about 700 infants were abandoned per year, and 46.8 per cent of women undergoing abortion were under 25.

Domestic violence reportedly caused economic damage worth Bt36.7 billion or 0.5 per cent of the country’s GDP last year. Thai police reported 4,570 rape cases, 36,827 prostitutes arrested and 1,208 producers of pornographic material detained.

Meanwhile, Friend of Women Foundation coordinator Suchat Trakulhutip said many female students and teachers were sexually harassed in schools. The Education Ministry should adopt the Office of the Civil Service Commission’s regulations against sexual harassment and develop the gender equity curriculum at all education levels. Education Minister Chinnavorn Boonyakiat said this was already an important issue to cover in the second round of educational reform, to create security for students and teachers from all kinds of harassment.

-- The Nation 2010-11-18

[Beetlejuice]

I`m not certain that this crackdown is a good thing or not?

Perhaps better for the women to abort than permitting brain dead mothers to struggle trying to bring up unwanted and unloved babies in absolute poverty.

It would probably be more advisable to have these women sterilised. Better for the women, better for the unwanted childen and less burden for the families and all concerned.

[DP25]

I`m not certain that this crackdown is a good thing or not?

Perhaps better for the women to abort than permitting brain dead mothers to struggle trying to bring up unwanted and unloved babies in absolute poverty.

It would probably be more advisable to have these women sterilised. Better for the women, better for the unwanted childen and less burden for the families and all concerned.

You seem to be under the false impression that only poor mentally ill people get abortions, which is completely untrue. If anything, it's the opposite, well off educated people get them, the poor just keep popping them out.

[Tokay]

One can only assume this "crackdown" will be like all the the useless "crackdowns."

Take someone in, take pictures, make the news, business as usual.

Shame.

[surayu]

" Last year 135 officers faced punishment over sexual offences " and we all know what it takes before a BiB is actually been punished here, so i am just wondering what the real figure might be, with all those too afraid of ripercussion to speak out, maybe by sterilising the whole force the problem with the abortion will just disappear or become a rarity

[reason1]

“ report in 2008 that 80,000 female students became pregnant, about 700 infants were abandoned per year, and 46.8 per cent of women undergoing abortion were under 25”

I struggle with all the issues here having paid for time with Bar/Play Girls without any responsibility for the results. I have also paid for a termination which fortunately didn’t happen and produced a wonderful girl. There is no easy answer and the problems are not going away. Making abortion more difficult, more criminal, or more expensive are not solutions. Education and easy access to contraception seem to me to be the best ways forward. We Guys almost always defer to the Gal to fix the problem. It is not right but that is the reality.

[johna]

With numbers of abortions so high its time to decriminalize abortion and get serious about sex education in schools.

Where is Dr Mechai Viravaidya when you need him.

[DP25]

With numbers of abortions so high its time to decriminalize abortion and get serious about sex education in schools.

Where is Dr Mechai Viravaidya when you need him.

The number of abortions isn't that high compared with the US, and the fertility rate is much lower too. Fertility rate is already well below replacement level, population will eventually start shrinking without immigration.

[whybother]

I'm sure making it so difficult to continue education if you're pregnant (or married?) is a major reason for many young women having abortions.

[TimeBandit2]

This is one of those awful issues with no good solution in any country.

But if women can't get what they want/need from a doctor they will take matters into their own hands.

And being thrown out of school for being pregnant doesn't help matters, does it?

[geriatrickid]

This is one of those awful issues with no good solution in any country.

But if women can't get what they want/need from a doctor they will take matters into their own hands.

And being thrown out of school for being pregnant doesn't help matters, does it?

You are correct.

The "crackdown" will impact those that cannot afford to pay for a proper procedure in a clinic with sterile equipment. We will see a return to the drain cleaner and coat hangar techniques and will see a new generation of women brutalized, exploited and at risk. If the people pushing this crackdown spent just 1 hour in one of these clinics peaking to the desperate girls and women, they might have a different perspective. No one wants to perform an abortion. If they want to reduce abortions, let the government first provide an alternative method of support for impoverished single women and put some money and resources into a youth care network.

[DP25]

The "crackdown" will impact those that cannot afford to pay for a proper procedure in a clinic with sterile equipment. We will see a return to the drain cleaner and coat hangar techniques and will see a new generation of women brutalized, exploited and at risk.

The government clinics are clean, safe, and very cheap, that is not what would happen. This would impact illegal private clinics that mainly service wealthier Thais who don't want to use public clinics.

[jayjay0]

There is no easy answer. My mother was a devout Catholic. She was not in favor of abortion but refused to do any thing to stop it. She said she would not be willing to take in one of the unwanted babies so she would keep her mouth shut.

I myself fully endorse that policy. Actually as a reborn again Pagan it allows me to agree to all opinions. Perhaps legalizing it in Government sponsored clinics with counseling available to all would be the answer. I mean no waiting because there are not enough clinics.

[brahmburgers]

This is a many-fangled issue. A gov't minister simply declaring a crackdown on abortionists is scratching the surface of what needs to be done. It's ineffective and only causes abortionists to go further underground. Here's some of what's needed:

>>> sex education in schools, yes

>>> discussions by parents, yes - though rarely done in any meaningful way. Most parents either avoid the subject altogether, or just touch upon it with platitudes.

>>> instilling a sense of responsibility among youth. Always a challenge, but not so much as to give up trying.

>>> Enabling safe abortions, requiring prior counseling by mature non-judgmental adults (a rarity).

>>> condoms as available and as cheap as chewing gum

>>> Enabling adoptions, both by locals and by foreigners (all screened).

With numbers of abortions so high its time to decriminalize abortion and get serious about sex education in schools.

Where is Dr Mechai Viravaidya when you need him.

studies show that the plethora of plastics in our environment is leading to lower sperm counts - via leaching of chemicals in to water, soil, air, and food. Perhaps that's why Thais use prodigious amounts of plastic and burn much of it in trash piles - as a warped sort of way to unwittingly offset the proliferation our overly dominant species.

Edited November 18, 2010 by brahmburgers

[Carib]

It is a " knee-jerk" reaction.

Of-course something had to be said after a discovery like that. It could turn into something positive, like a call for sex education, free condoms or whatever, but I am afraid it will be back to business as usual in two/three weeks from now.

[bubba]

With numbers of abortions so high its time to decriminalize abortion and get serious about sex education in schools.

Where is Dr Mechai Viravaidya when you need him.

He is still running the Population and Community Development Association, providing family planning services including legal termination of pregnancy.

http://www.pda.or.th/eng/fp.asp

From the site:

By the end of 2005, PDA and a group of physicians managed to convince the Medical Council of Thailand to accept new medical regulations concerning pregnancy termination on physical as well as mental health grounds.

Edited November 18, 2010 by bubba

[bushwacker]

There is no easy answer. My mother was a devout Catholic. She was not in favor of abortion but refused to do any thing to stop it. She said she would not be willing to take in one of the unwanted babies so she would keep her mouth shut.

I myself fully endorse that policy. Actually as a reborn again Pagan it allows me to agree to all opinions. Perhaps legalizing it in Government sponsored clinics with counseling available to all would be the answer. I mean no waiting because there are not enough clinics.

Fully agree with you. :jap:

[anterian]

Arguments wage over is teenage promiscuous behaviour innate or not. Does the availability of contraception increase such behaviour. My personal observations are that it is innate and that contraception does not increase the incidence of such behaviour. even the risks of HIV have not appreciably affected teenage sexual behaviour. Pregnancy is often the result of a first time intercourse, unprepared and unanticipated, or reliance on "safe times" or withdrawal methods.

The best idea in my opinion is the contraceptive implant here is a typical type; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norplant

I am sure the national cost of this would be less than the cost of abortions and the complications that can result from them.

[KeiranBrown]

If they want to reduce abortions, let the government first provide an alternative method of support for impoverished single women and put some money and resources into a youth care network.

You got it. Well said.

[RapidMethod]

Whether it's wrong to have an abortion or not, making it illegal is the worst possible policy imaginable. And it won't prevent or reduce reckless/unprotected sexual behavior one iota!

I'm not really sure what the purpose of this law is, but it isn't thought through at all. One can't simply create legislation to control fundamental human behavior like sexual relationships. Condoms might be the best way to reduce pregnancies but many people don't use them - they don't like to! It's a very complex issue because it involves basic human emotions, hormonal and sexual drives, cultural sensitivies and just plain dogmatism and stubbornness and ignorance.

And one can't simply wish the problem away. Assuming abortions are made virtually impossible, what will be achieved...?

1. Even more secretive and more expensive and more dangerous backstreet abortions.
2. More frequent and very dangerous attempts at self-abortions - leading to actual deaths or permanent disabilities.
3. For those who can afford it, a trip overseas to the nearest country where abortions are legal, making the law redundant!
4. Carrying the baby to term and then
   i) giving it away (usually to the grandmother) who will most likely raise it in a neglectful way
   ii) abandoning it
   iii) surreptitiously hiding it and/or allowing it to die (there are a hundred ways to this 'accidentally on purpose')

So making abortions illegal only serves to make a difficult problem into something evil, regardless of one's best intentions...

Well done to Dr Mechai for his efforts. Education and Family Planning is the way to go, along with sensitivity to honest mistakes and even reckless behavior. Remember: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone..."?

[ianbaggie]

I`m not certain that this crackdown is a good thing or not?

Perhaps better for the women to abort than permitting brain dead mothers to struggle trying to bring up unwanted and unloved babies in absolute poverty.

It would probably be more advisable to have these women sterilised. Better for the women, better for the unwanted childen and less burden for the families and all concerned.

You seem to be under the false impression that only poor mentally ill people get abortions, which is completely untrue. If anything, it's the opposite, well off educated people get them, the poor just keep popping them out.

Absolute rubbish, Thailand has a problem with abortions because it is a center for prostitution. These ladies cannot continue to work with young children to take care of. their families often take the hildren to look after themselves. Those who've been in Thailand for any length of time KNOW this. The rich would not go to back street abortionists they would be giving LARGE backhanders to authorised centers.

[ianbaggie]

" report in 2008 that 80,000 female students became pregnant, about 700 infants were abandoned per year, and 46.8 per cent of women undergoing abortion were under 25"

I struggle with all the issues here having paid for time with Bar/Play Girls without any responsibility for the results. I have also paid for a termination which fortunately didn't happen and produced a wonderful girl. There is no easy answer and the problems are not going away. Making abortion more difficult, more criminal, or more expensive are not solutions. Education and easy access to contraception seem to me to be the best ways forward. We Guys almost always defer to the Gal to fix the problem. It is not right but that is the reality.

Well said - good on you!!

[ianbaggie]

With numbers of abortions so high its time to decriminalize abortion and get serious about sex education in schools.

Where is Dr Mechai Viravaidya when you need him.

The number of abortions isn't that high compared with the US, and the fertility rate is much lower too. Fertility rate is already well below replacement level, population will eventually start shrinking without immigration.

The PERCENTAGE of abortions is drastically higher than the US per head of the population, of course the population of the USA is FIVE times higher than Thailand. The population of thailand has grown by 400% since 1923. Why would it start shrinking now?

[animatic]

I'm sure making it so difficult to continue education if you're pregnant (or married?) is a major reason for many young women having abortions.

There is the problem in a nutshell.

The old world stigma of get them out of site is preventing continued education,

for those likely MOST in need of it, yet they get booted out and hidden away.

And often end up on the game to support the child.

Dealing with cause and effect and looking ahead, and seeing beyond 'loss of face' is

a weak link in Thai culture, to the outside observer with some knowledge of the society.

[hammered]

The welthy head off to places like Singapore and have their abortions in luxury hospitals and unnoticed. The rest get well what we are reading about.

I wonder reading through this thread how many of the comments come from women

[BigBikeBKK]

Pardon my ignorance and apologies if I missed it earlier in the thread, but what is the law in Thailand regarding abortion? Completely legal, legal with restrictions or illegal?

[maxman71]

“ report in 2008 that 80,000 female students became pregnant, about 700 infants were abandoned per year, and 46.8 per cent of women undergoing abortion were under 25”

I struggle with all the issues here having paid for time with Bar/Play Girls without any responsibility for the results. I have also paid for a termination which fortunately didn’t happen and produced a wonderful girl. There is no easy answer and the problems are not going away. Making abortion more difficult, more criminal, or more expensive are not solutions. Education and easy access to contraception seem to me to be the best ways forward. We Guys almost always defer to the Gal to fix the problem. It is not right but that is the reality.

Excellent observation concerning how guys, and not only Thais but farang as well, seem to think they can drop off their packages and forget the consequences. Sticking it all on the woman is just a bit more than a little misogynistic and plain arrogant. I had a vasectomy years ago, and so far very glad I did. Some woman a few years ago called me and told I knocked her up and wanted payment. After finishing a long belly laugh, I informed her my factory was shut down years before and she needed to peddle her Fairy Tale elsewhere.

[animatic]

Arguments wage over is teenage promiscuous behaviour innate or not. Does the availability of contraception increase such behaviour. My personal observations are that it is innate and that contraception does not increase the incidence of such behaviour. even the risks of HIV have not appreciably affected teenage sexual behaviour. Pregnancy is often the result of a first time intercourse, unprepared and unanticipated, or reliance on "safe times" or withdrawal methods.

The best idea in my opinion is the contraceptive implant here is a typical type; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norplant

I am sure the national cost of this would be less than the cost of abortions and the complications that can result from them.

1st time pregancy is often because the girls body hormonally tells it to 'give in' easiest at exactly the time she is most likely to make a baby. She can fight off the urge most other days, but that day not only her heart, but mothering heat is up too.

The physiologically optimum moment directs the mind to make it psychologically possible. It's not all their conscious fault, it's naturally created as the human reproduction imperatve in women. Even young ones, who don't understand that or the consequences.

Mandatory Norplant is a non starter, as nice as it would seem on first blush. Besides it being invasive in the extreme, it also would encourage sex, when other birth control methods do not IMHO. And that leaves VD risk to bhe much greater. Condom education and straight talk is the best way. But it HAS to start YOUNG and not just once but ongoing.

Certainly the minister had to say something, but he needs to act on stemming the social source of the problem not the unpalatable cure. No girl should be forced from school for pregancy EVER, it is dispicable conduct for a people, and creates hardships for the whole society far out weighing their short term lose of face. BIG PICTURE people.

Edited November 18, 2010 by animatic

[hammered]

Pardon my ignorance and apologies if I missed it earlier in the thread, but what is the law in Thailand regarding abortion? Completely legal, legal with restrictions or illegal?

Abortion is strictly illegal except in cases of rape, incest and life of mother is in danger. Doctors in general do not lightly agree with the latter and most abortions are carried out in specialist "clinics" that are kind of well known but well known.