Abortion in Thailand

In this globalized era, abortion is one of the most controversial issues in the world. Abortion is the main way to get rid of the fetus or embryo which is the end of pregnancy (Roe, 2002). There are many people confused about the difference between fetus and embryo. The embryo is the first three months of the development to be a child. The fetus is called for a child in the womb after the first three months (Warner & Rosenberg, n.d.). However, in these nine months of pregnancy, it is the time for many mothers who have many different personal reasons to terminate the pregnancy by getting an abortion. There are many means of abortion which is specified by the stage of the pregnancy and the preference of each person. There are two main methods of abortion which are surgical methods of abortion and medical methods of abortion. The surgical methods of abortion can be divided into three types according to the duration of the pregnancy. The first main way of surgical abortion for the first trimester is called vacuum aspiration. The second trimester uses the method called dilation and evacuation. The third trimester uses the method which is similar to means in the second trimester, but it is a lot more complicated (Warner & Rosenberg, n.d.). In Thailand, there are many illegal abortion clinics which are mainly located around Bangkok and rural areas (Narkavonnakit, 1979). Recently, the police officers found hundreds of human fetuses in the temple called Wat Phai Ngern. There are more than 3 hundreds of human fetuses in the temple’s morgue (Uribarri, 2010). A few days later, the police found more dead babies which is raised the number up to more than thousands fetuses in the same temple. At present, the police was able to arrest the owner of the illegal abortion clinic named Lanjakorn Jantamanas. She said to the police that she also received dead babies from many abortion clinics from many districts in Bangkok to the undertaker of the temple and earned 500 Baht for each body. The undertaker said that there are more than thousands of fetuses because the crematorium of the temple was not working for more than two months (Mydans, 2010). After this situation had revealed in the public, health officials claimed that they detected about 4000 clinics that are suspected to be an illegal abortion clinic. The last update for this news is that the police founded more than 2 thousands dead babies in the temple (Fetus horror, 2010). Thailand has a law which clearly states that abortion is illegal, but there are some exceptions for specific reasons. The first exception for legal abortion is to save the life of the mother. The second exception is the pregnancy which is caused by sexual crimes (Somswasdi, 2006). However, I suggest that the abortion in Thailand should be legalized because of many reasons, some of which are the benefits of mothers and children, the benefits of the society, and the beliefs of Buddhism. The first and most important reason why abortion in Thailand should be legalized is all about the benefits of mothers and children. Many mothers have their own reason to get an abortion. Some mothers think that they have to terminate the pregnancy because they are not ready to be a mother (Lowen, 2010). The main cause of this reason is about the age of the mother. Some mothers are too young to be a mother. Most students studying in high school or college who accidentally got pregnant always get an abortion. For example, in northeastern Thailand, there is a schoolgirl said that she used to get an abortion once because she did not want her parents to know about this, so she discussed with her boyfriend to get an abortion. She went to the illegal abortion clinic where is well known among the natives. She said that all the processes of abortion cost 5000 baht. Another example of teenager who got abortion is claimed that she had to do this because she wanted to graduate the college and have a good life and a nice future for her family (The Pregnant, 2002). Thus, these examples cause many people to claim that abortion in Thailand should still be illegal, and the police should pay more attention to get rid of all illegal abortion clinics. However, many mothers will take more risk from abortion if it is still illegal because there are many low quality doctors and fake doctors who do abortion’s procedures for mothers. Mothers are able to be infected from improper equipments and impure environment (Stix and Wiehl, 1983). This situation may cause many mothers to die. According to the latest news about abortion in Thailand, Ms. Lanjakorn Jantamanas, the owner of the illegal abortion clinic, arrested by police confessed that she was just only an apprentice of an abortion clinic in Thon Buri area (Police arrest, 2010). This information implies that many mothers got abortion which was done by just a worker of the other abortion clinic. In addition, according to the statistic of U.S. bureau of vital statistics center for disease control, it shows that in 1940 there was thousands of mothers died because of illegal abortion, but after the law of abortion had been announced to be legalized the number of died people from abortion was decreased dramatically (Willky, 2006). Moreover, it is also the benefits of children in the womb that they do not have to be born in such a poor and unsafe living conditions (Lowen, 2010). Many children who were born in the slum areas grow up with the lack of education, warmth and love from parents. These reasons may cause these children to become addicted to drugs, and grow up to be a thief because they are uneducated, and nobody wants to hire them. I feel really regret for those mothers who gave birth to the unwanted child in an unsuitable living condition which can harm their children. Thus, abortion in Thailand should be legalized because if abortion is legalized, the quality of the doctors, equipments, and proper places to do abortion will be more effective, and mothers do not have to take high risk for getting abortion. Fetuses do not have to be born as an unwanted child and later turn to be a problem for parents to look after. The second main reason why abortion in Thailand should be legalized is about the benefits of the society. There are several reasons why many people give birth to the unwanted child. The first main reason is that many pregnant mothers fear to have an abortion because the abortion in Thailand is illegal, and they may sentence in jail or fine, so they decide to give birth to their child (Mydans, 2010). The second main reason is that pregnant mothers hold the belief of the morality. However, the unwanted parturition may have many negative effects to mother and cause death to both mother and child. These two major reasons are the significant reason that there are so many unwanted children growing in the society. In addition, there are many serious troubles in the society which are caused by unwanted childbearing, some of which are divorce, poverty, criminal, domestic violence, and prostitute. Many teenagers broke up with their girlfriends or boyfriends after they known about the unintended pregnancy (Lowen, 2010). This situation causes the pregnant teenage girl or her boyfriend to take care of the child alone. Most case of teenage father and mother is that they have a lack of skill to raise the baby. This may cause the domestic violence because teenage parents have a low tolerance to the behavior of the baby, and they also do not understand how to behave with the baby properly. Many teenagers who get pregnant are studying in college or school, so they have to quit studying. This is the main cause of many unwanted child born into poverty (Lowen, 2010). The unwanted children may grow up without love and warmth from their parents. All of these reasons are the fundamental causes of inefficient adults in the future. These adults may harm other people in the society by turn to be a criminal because they are so poor and uneducated, so they do not have many choices for living to choose. Moreover, there are many children who born with HIV, so abortion is the main way to prevent the pitiable future that these children will suffer when they grow up, such as being excluded from the society, refused from many people, objected from working, etc (Benefits of Abortion, 2010). I feel really sorry for these children because many children living with HIV since they were born live for waiting the time to pass away. Thus, abortion in Thailand should be legalized because of the benefits of the society. In Thailand, more than 90 percent of all Thai people are Buddhist (Country Profile Thailand, 2006). Many Buddhists claimed that abortion is a sin. Killing a fetus is just like killing a human. In Buddhist perspective, they think that it is unacceptable for legalizing abortion because this law is like a campaign for getting an abortion. This situation will increase the number of abortions if the abortion in Thailand is legalized (Barnhart, 1997). However, Buddhists in Thailand should realize about which is right or wrong in terms of Buddhism and the results of their actions. These two suggestions are the best way to prevent the situation like abortion. In order to gain more understanding for these suggestions, Buddhists in Thailand should realize that they should not have sex before they get married, and should not buy a prostitute. If all Buddhists can do just only two or three doctrines of Buddhism in Tripitaka they will not face with the situation like the abortion absolutely because there are only being raped, having sex without readiness to be parents in teenagers, and buying a prostitute which are the causes of unintended pregnancy and leading to get an abortion. Besides, other ten percent of other religious in Thailand has similar teaching to Buddhism. However, in the real situation, people do not pay attention on Buddha’s teaching even though they are Buddhist, so why do they have to consider that an abortion is a sin while they did many other sins which are the causes of unintended pregnancy. In addition, at present, there is a technology which can check up the fetus that whether it has any disorder or not (Woo, n.d.). If there is a fetal disorder many people will think that the mother should get an abortion to protect their child from the pains of living in the world when it born. I think that Buddhists should realize that how much difficulty the unwanted babies suffer in the future, so people should prevent these situations by getting an abortion. Thus, abortion is the best way out for most of the causes of unplanned pregnancy. All in all, the three aforementioned causes clearly show and prove that why abortion in Thailand should be legalized. If people consider this problem in the long run they will find that abortion is one of the most appropriate ways to prevent many serious troubles, such as criminal which is mostly caused by poor and uneducated people who were born in slum areas having more unintentional pregnancy than any other areas (Agarwal, 2010). People should realize more about the benefits of abortion because choosing to get an abortion or give birth to the child can change the mother’s life forever. For example, among teenage pregnancy, some teenage mothers said that they better get an abortion than ruining their own life. Some teenage mothers choose to keep their child, but they have to resign from the school or college. These two choices are difficult to choose, but for the brighter future I suggest those mothers to save their own life by getting an abortion, and continue studying until they are graduated from college. For those who are already graduated from college and have an unplanned pregnancy, I suggest them to look at their readiness for having a baby by looking at the financial status, health of the mother, and the result of physical examination that there is any disease which is able to transfer to their child or not and estimate whether they have an ability to have a child or not. Moreover, Thai government should pay more attention on educate people to have safe sex which is the main problems of unintended pregnancy.

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References

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Barnhart, M. (1997). Buddhism and the morality of abortion. Urbandharma. Retrieved from http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma/abortion.html Benefits of Abortion. (2010). Benefitof. Retrieved from http://benefitof.net/benefits-of- abortion/ Country Profile Thailand. (2006). Overseas Missionary Fellowship. Retrieved from http://www.omf.org/omf/thailand/inside_thailand/country_profile_thailand Foetus horror triggers blitz on abortion clinics. (2010, November 18). Bangkok Post. Retrieved from http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/206909/foetus-horror-triggers-blitz-on-abortion-clinics

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References: Agarwal, A. (2010, March 13). Teenage pregnancy in Australia – learn some important facts. Mydans, S. (2010, November 20). 2,000 aborted fetuses found at temple in Thailand. Somswasdi, V. (2006, September 13). Legal contradiction on abortion in Thailand. Faculty Of Social Sciences Stix, R., & Wiehl, D. (1983). Abortion and the public health. Milbank Memorial Fund.