A17-year-old high school student found in a pool of blood after performing a near-fatal abortion on herself could be charged with breaching the abortion law.

A conviction for attempting an abortion carries a potential jail term of up to three years.

The girl (name withheld) lost consciousness and was found soaked in blood at an apartment room in Huai Khwang district last month after using an abortion drug to terminate her pregnancy. She obtained the drug on the internet.

A Trat woman has been arrested for allegedly supplying an abortion drug online to the girl.

Women's groups say taking legal action against the girl underlines what is wrong about abortion law in this country _ that women who seek abortions are regarded as criminals rather than victims and deserve social censure, not sympathy.

They say the girl's case illustrates that the country's approach to tackling abortion is not working.

The teen pregnancy rate here is the highest in Asia, despite what critics say is a punitive abortion law.

The girl performed the abortion on herself when she was eight months into pregnancy.

She was portrayed in the media as a symbol of the moral decadence and sexual promiscuity said to be typical of teen girls in modern Thailand.

Women rights groups maintain, however, that condemnation and legal punishment will not help ease the problem of unplanned pregnancy. Safe sex education and better services for pregnant women and young mums, they say, will.

"She obtained abortion pills from the internet when she was already five months into pregnancy," said social activist Supensri Pungkoksung from the Friends of Women Foundation, which will represent the Mathayom girl in court.

"Hers was an act of desperation because she had no one to turn to."

Abortion is legal only when the pregnancy endangers a mother's life or when the pregnancy is caused by rape and incest.

Otherwise, women who attempt abortion face a jail term of up to three years and/or a fine of up to 6,000 baht.

Women who have an abortion also face harsh social stigma as sinners.

All previous attempts to amend the abortion law have failed due to fierce opposition from religious groups.

But the anti-abortion law has failed to deter teenage pregnancy.

World Health Organisation figures show the global average number of pregnancies for every 1,000 girls in the 15-19 age group is 65.

It is 56 in Asia. In Thailand, it rises to 70, higher than the global average and the highest in Asia.

Abortion is inevitably a solution when unwed teenage girls face harsh social stigma in a society which fails to provide them with safe sex education, proper counselling and other services such as half-way homes for unwed mothers and foster and adoption services, said Nattaya Boonpakdee, coordinator of Women's Health Advocacy Foundation.

"Society still sees sex education as dirty talk about intercourse. Actually it is about gender relations, dating, the consequences of unsafe sex and how to protect yourself," she said.

Ms Nattaya said the abortion law is too narrow and forces women to seek abortion from underground abortion clinics.

Research shows that 60-70 per cent of women seek abortions because of economic and social pressures, she said. Some are too young, others are too old or too poor.

Many risk being fired or expelled from school when they are pregnant.

"Women face great health risks, even death, from underground abortion clinics because the safe and legal option is unavailable," she said.

The cost of treating complications from unsafe abortion comes to 300 million baht a year, which could be saved if the country offered legal and safe abortion services.

But opponents insist the availability of legally safe and inexpensive abortions will aggravate the problem of teen pregnancy and abortion.

The Reproductive Health Bill, which allows pregnant students to continue in school during pregnancy and resume their studies after giving birth, promises to take a different approach.

Critics say allowing young mums to stay in school will encourage promiscuity among students. However, Ms Nattaya said research has shown that when teenage girls see their friends fall pregnant and encounter difficulties in their lives as a result, they become more careful with their relationships.

At a time when more than 100,000 babies each year are born to teenage mothers, "it is a serious national issue", said Wisut Boonyasopit, a health advocate from the National Health Assembly.

So is abortion when only 800,000 babies are born out of one million pregnancies a year.

While legal abortion remains too controversial, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security has opted instead to focus on teen pregnancy prevention.

It has worked out a national strategy which includes safe sex education, information campaigns run on social media networks, monitoring high-risk groups, counselling, shelters, occupational training and giving teen mothers the right to resume school after they give birth. The strategy will be proposed to cabinet.

One aim of the plan is changing parents' attitudes towards teen pregnancies. They are encouraged to show sympathy and understanding, rather than to punish.

Holding a nine-month-old baby in her arms, Noi (not her real name), said parental understanding made all the difference when her child was born. The third-year vocational school student kept her pregnancy a secret until she was six months pregnant. When her parents finally found out, they still supported her.

But Noi has learned her lesson.

"If I could turn back time, I would be more careful not to take the wrong step,"she said.

Source: Bangkok Post, 1 November 2010