Crackdown On Illegal Abortions In Thailand

[Admin]

Crackdown On Illegal Abortions In Thailand

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.

[Admin]

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.

[Admin]

ABORTION SCANDAL

I care for 8 survivors : abortionist
By The Nation
19-11-2010

The horrific discovery of about 300 human foetuses in a Bangkok temple has led to a rundown building on Phetkasem Road where illegal abortions were performed for years and subsequently to the story of an abortion worker who ended up caring for eight kids, unwanted by their biological mothers, who survived the procedure.

An arrested undertaker implicated former nurse assistant Lanchakorn Janthamanas, 33, as the one who hired him at Bt200 per foetus to put them in the temple pending cremation.

Yesterday she revealed her side of the story.

“I started taking the job by myself in the middle of last year. Before that, I helped a female doctor in her 50s who did it for young women, including some famous actresses. Sometimes the babies survived the abortion, and I had to raise five children, the eldest one of which is now nine years old. After the clinic shut down, I took over the place, renting it at Bt10,000 a month,” Lanchakorn said.

She learned how to perform the operation from observing another nurse assistant as she helped a doctor with the abortions.

Previously, she had taken the foetuses from her network of abortionists around Bangkok and Pathum Thani and giving them to the undertaker to hide inside a pyre. Monks, without knowing, would perform a prayer for the dead foetuses during another person’s funeral. Lanchakorn charged her network Bt500 per foetus and gave the undertaker Bt200.

After the clinic shut down, she told her network she would perform the abortions they couldn’t. Most clinics performed abortions only in early pregnancy rather than in later terms, which were riskier and more painful.

She said eight-month-pregnancy abortions could sometimes leave babies alive, so she ended up raising a total of eight such children.

“I commit sin [abortions] every day, so if the kids won’t die, there’s no need to kill them. And I want to have children because I can’t, possibly due to the sin,” she said. All the kids are legal, as she had relatives upcountry to pay bribes at Bt10,000-Bt20,000 per child to get them Thai nationality.

Police yesterday collected Lanchakorn’s evidence in preparation for the first detention-period application at Taling Chan Court this morning, while also interrogating the undertaker who reportedly confessed to disposing of the foetuses for Bt200 a time. The Prachabodi Centre also contacted police about information on the eight children who survived.

After allegations of bribery of a hospital to issue certificates for the children, Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said officials would probe and, if guilty, punish offenders with a two-year jail term and a Bt40,000 fine.

Health Department chief Somyos Deerassami said that of 1 million women who got pregnant each year, it was estimated that about 150,000 miscarried and some 150,000 aborted the pregnancies mostly teenagers or those unprepared for motherhood.

Yesterday an eight-month-old male foetus was found dumped in an irrigation waterway behind Din Daeng Flat 4 Building 8.

It has undergone an autopsy and the case is being investigated by police.

[Admin]

Undertaker arrested for hiding some 200 foetuses in temple
The Nation 2010-11-16

An undertaker has been arrested for allegedly assisting five abortion clinics to dispose some 200 aborted foetuses.

Suthep Cha-bangbon, 46, an undertaker of Phai Ngern Temple on Soi Trokchan 20 in Bang Kholaem district, has been arrested, a police source said.

Initially, Suthep claimed that he was the one who spotted the aborted foetuses and alerted police.

He claimed he did not know how the foetues had ended up being hidden in one of temporary body storage of the temple pending cremation.

But after he was taken to Wat Phayakrai police station for questioning, he admitted that he was hired by five abortion clinics to dispose the foetuses.

[Admin]

Over 100 dead foetuses found in Thai temple: police

BANGKOK, November 16, 2010 (AFP) - The bodies of more than 100 human foetuses, apparently from an illegal abortion clinic, were discovered inside a Buddhist temple in central Bangkok, Thai police said Tuesday.

The corpses, wrapped in plastic bags and newspaper, were found by a member of temple staff in a mortuary storage area.

"There are more than 100 plastic bags with foetal corpses inside hidden in the storehouse of a temple," said Police Colonel Metee Rakphan.

"We assume that they were from illegal abortion clinics, and we are now investigating."

One rescue worker with the Poh Teck Tung foundation, a charity that provides emergency rescue and body recovery services, suggested that hundreds of corpses could eventually be uncovered.

"Our figure we received a moment ago is 240, but we think that there are between 300 to 500 foetuses as we have only searched half the area," he said.
Buddhist temples in Thailand not only perform cremation ceremonies, but also store bodies in specially refrigerated areas.

Abortion is illegal in Thailand except when it is judged that delivery would harm the mother or when the pregnancy is the result of rape.

[Admin]

Nearly 1,000 dead foetuses found at Thai temple: police

BANGKOK, November 19, 2010 (AFP) - Thai police found the remains of almost 1,000 illegally aborted foetuses hidden at a Buddhist temple in Bangkok Friday, with more grisly discoveries expected.

The bodies, wrapped in plastic bags, were discovered in a newly opened area of the mortuary days after authorities found 348 in the first room to be searched.

Two temple undertakers have admitted stashing foetuses in three different storage units, leading to the new inspection, police said.

"In just one room we have found 950 foetuses and we are now opening the next room," Colonel Sombat Milintajinda, area commander of Bangkok Metropolitan Police, told AFP.

He said some had been stored there for more than a year.

The discoveries have shocked Thailand and highlighted the scale of illegal abortions in a country where the procedure is only allowed when delivery would harm the mother or the pregnancy is the result of rape.

"This reflects the severity of the problem," said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, although he rejected suggestions that the abortion law be amended, saying it was "flexible enough".

The public health ministry, which ordered a nationwide crackdown on abortion clinics as a result of the finds, estimates that of one million pregnancies in Thailand each year, 80,000 are illegally terminated.

So far a 33-year-old woman has been arrested and confessed to carrying out illegal abortions, said Lieutenant Colonel Dilok Ruennet, chief investigator of Phya Krai police station, where the temple is located.

He said the two undertakers had told police they were hired separately by a network of abortion clinics and had no idea how many foetuses they had stored in the mortuary.

They would normally have disposed of the corpses by placing them with the remains of people being cremated, but the furnaces had broken and the number of stored bodies had built up while repair work was carried out.

Buddhist temples in Thailand not only perform cremation ceremonies, but also store bodies in specially refrigerated areas.

[Admin]

More than 1,000 Fetuses Found at Same Temple
Tan Network 2010-11-19

An additional 1,000 fetuses have been discovered after 340 were found on Wednesday.

More than 1,000 fetuses have been found at Phai Ngern Temple in Bangkok, after the smell of decay drew complaints despite 340 fetuses having been removed last week.

The temple's undertaker admitted to receiving the fetuses from several clinics with which he and the clinic owners have been in alliance for six years.

At the temple, Wat Phrayakrai police said they were stunned by the discovery of more than 1,000 fetuses hidden in plastic bags in three warehouses.


They said they will discuss the matter with their superiors to find out how to manage the situation.

Abortion is illegal in Thailand, but it is permitted if the mother is a victim of rape, or if the pregnancy harms the life of the mother.

[Admin]

Temple sends off unborn souls
Many will gather for unusual ritual to mourn aborted foetuses
Published: 20/11/2010 at 12:00 AM
Bangkok Post: Newspaper section: News

Do the participants want to apologise to aborted foetuses or do they fear the spiritual consequences of their decision to have an abortion?

Whatever the reason, many people will turn up at an unusual religious ritual next Saturday to pray for the foetuses they decided to abort.

Several posters recently appeared along Ramkhamhaeng Road advertising prayers for the souls of aborted foetuses, to be held at Wat Sriboonruang in Soi Ramkhamhaeng 107 in Bang Kapi district. After criticism by religious officials about their appropriateness, most of the posters have been taken down _ except one in the temple compound.

PM speaks out: No change in abortion laws
Officials discovered 2002 foetuses at Wat Phai Ngern Chotanaram in Bang Rak district this week.

The ceremony organised by Wat Sriboonruang is not connected to the discovery at Wat Phai Ngern Chotanaram, and was organised beforehand.

Monks at the temple have refused to provide any details about the ritual.

A man who works at the temple, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the ritual would take about 40 minutes.

"Everything needed for the ritual will be provided at the temple and participants have to pay 300 baht for that," he said.

A vendor at the temple said it would be the second time this ritual has been held, following one at the beginning of this year. "The temple was filled with several hundred people.

"Most came with families. It is a way to show compassion for the dead."

In Thailand, abortion is illegal unless the mother's health is in danger or she has been the victim of rape. Many Buddhists believe abortions can generate bad karma for the participants.

Amnart Buasiri, director of the Secretariat of the Sangha Supreme Council, said the ritual of mourning for souls is not prohibited if it is for religious reasons.

''We have to look at its purpose: to show compassion for the souls of the aborted foetuses and lead them to rest in peace. ''It is considered the same as the mass mourning for tsunami victims.''

''But I admit it is inappropriate as the temple is charging 300 baht to perform a religious ritual. Normally, attendees would donate money as they wished.

''I am not sure yet if it is being organised by the temple or by another group that uses the temple compound and has invited the monks to run the religious rite,'' he added. Last week, the chief monk responsible for all temples in Bang Kapi district was sent to Wat Sriboonruang to talk to the abbot.

He issued a warning about doing anything which could damage the image of Buddhism and monks.

After the talks, the roadside posters advertising the ritual were taken down on the grounds that advertising is not the duty of monks.

Nattaya Boonpakdee, coordinator of the Women's Health Advocacy Foundation, said the aborted foetuses and ritual prayers for them were part of a social phenomenon, indicating that dhunwanted pregnancies were truly a problem in society.

''Just having a law that states that abortion is illegal cannot help solve the problem,'' Ms Nattaya said.

If no legal abortions were available, women would use underground clinics.

Ms Nattaya urged the provision of preventative measures, including sex education and a birth-control counselling service.

Some women mistakenly believed taking a birth control pill just one day before having sex could prevent pregnancy, when it must be taken for a month dhbeforehand. But, she added, even with sex education and effective birth control, there was always a chance of pregnancy.

The top three things those women with unwanted pregnancies needed were friendly counselling, temporary housing to allow them to avoid other pressures in their lives, and a legal and safe abortion provided by state hospitals, she said.

[Admin]

EDITORIAL

Rethink required on teenage sex, unwanted babies
By The Nation
2010-11-21
Discovery of thousands of aborted foetuses shows unwanted pregnancies are a major issue we need to confront

Last week's discovery of some 2,000 aborted foetuses at a well-known Bangkok temple must serve as a wake-up call for the whole of Thai society, which has been awkwardly grappling with the increasingly worrying issue of unwanted teen pregnancies. There are many troubling aspects to this - legal, social and political - so a typical police pledge to crack down on illegal abortion clinics is not going to change anything.

Horrible as it seems, the scene at the Phai Ngern Temple is just the tip of the iceberg. Media interviews in the wake of the temple drama found that illegal abortions are rampant not just in Bangkok, and in many cases they are done with parental consent. Taxi motorcyclists told reporters they had taken many teenage girls to clinics for illegal abortions. Some temples were reportedly "approached" by people from clinics to be foetus disposal sites.

A crackdown on those clinics could just make things worse, as illegal abortions are only likely to be driven deeper underground with more dangerous consequences. Everybody, not just the police, must face the current problem together. This issue calls for a legal review, social understanding, political broadmindedness as well as a rethink of sex education.

The irony is there for all to see - with a temple used as a hiding place for aborted foetuses. But then again, maybe the irony is there because the country has not been facing this problem the way it needs to. Sex among young people is known to have been increasing, but how much has society done to cope, or keep up, with this trend? The aborted foetuses are the end result of adults' ignorance as much as youngsters' naivety.

Will public attention caused by this latest incident that highlights a serious social problem be a flash in the pan once again? Everyone should bear in mind that the dead foetuses at the Phai Ngern Temple were discovered probably because we are being asked to look at other places as well. With or without the discovery, illegal abortion has been going on, very likely on a massive scale although it's impossible to get accurate statistics.

If desperate teenage girls know where to get an abortion, it must have been easy for the authorities to know where to look. What has been happening in Thailand is that we have been tackling the problem of teen sex and unwanted pregnancies in a half-hearted manner. Parents have been reluctant to educate their children about proper sexual behaviour, fearful that sincere talks about condoms or birth control pills at the dining table could be mistaken as a "green light" for promiscuity. Schools do not want to break the norms and trigger controversies. Legislators, like schools, want to "play it safe". Police have to turn a blind eye from time to time because they are either corrupt or overwhelmed by the magnitude of unwanted pregnancies.

What looked like a brave, albeit controversial, piece of proposed legislation, the so-called Juno Bill, is not getting anywhere. The bill, proposed because of an alarming increase in the number of young Thai women getting pregnant under the age of 20, would give pregnant students the legal right to take maternal leave and continue their studies after giving birth. Although surveys show considerable public support for the bill, society has chosen to remain cautious, afraid that such a sympathetic law would encourage imprudent sex among young people.

The 348 dead foetuses at the Phai Ngern Temple clearly shows that, with or without the Juno Bill, the problem is there, waiting to be properly dealt with. The parents of the unborn babies did not know what else to do. That shows that something needs to be done. These issues need to be tackled much more boldly.

[Admin]

PM's abortion response: social values must change after 2,000 foetuses found at temple
TNA 2010-11-20

BANGKOK, Nov 20 -- Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Saturday that “long standing social values must be corrected” and that the authorities "must monitor illegal abortion clinics closely.”

His comments were made after 2,002 foetuses were found in compartments of a Buddhist temple’s morgue in Bangkok in two separate incidents earlier this week. The findings have led women’s groups to ask the government for a law change to better cope with the illegal abortion problem.

So far a former nurse identified as Ranchakorn Jantamanas was detained by police on charges of allegedly delivering foetuses to the temple. She also reportedly confessed to police to performing abortions.

Abortion is illegal in Thailand unless the mother’s health is in danger or she has been a rape victim.

“I’ve spoken about this [illegal abortion] problem constantly and ordered the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the major agency dealing with the issue, to create a correct social ethic. The long-standing problem must be corrected with a pro-active approach,” Mr Abhisit said.

He said concerned officials must work harder to suppress illegal abortion clinics.

There is no problem concerning the law dealing with this issue as the law is flexible and it is in line with Medical Council and Public Health Ministry guidelines, he said.

“The problem lies in society's values which require study and fostering appropriate values among the at-risk groups," he added. (MCOT online news).

[isanbirder]

So many cut-and-pastes... and nobody comments!  This is par for the course in Thailand... an abuse is revealed, a crackdown is announced, a few small fry are caught with great publicity, the whole question dies down, and the abuse, whatever it is, creeps back.  Examples... porn on bookstalls, underage prostitution, drugs, police corruption, illegal occupation of land, you name it.

[Admin]

Raids net illegal abortion pills
By The Nation
24-11-2010.

In the wake of the discovery of more than 2,000 of foetuses at a Bangkok temple, police and foodanddrug agents yesterday seized a large number of abortion pills worth about Bt20 million in a raid on a shophouse on the outskirts of Bangkok.

The raid turned up 100,000 mifepristone (MT) and other pills and police arrested a man found to have been only guarding the premises in Bang Khae district. Raids were conducted at another three locations in Bangkok but found nothing illegal.

Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said raids were planned for another five locations in Bangkok and nearby provinces to search for abortion pills or any products including unauthorised diet pills, cosmetics and medication for pimples.

There are three to five illegal abortion clinics yet to be raided, he added, without elaborating.

Food and Drug Administration directorgeneral Phiphat Yingseri said a socalled "wombsqueezing" pill under the trade name Cytotec was highly dangerous and anyone merely possessing them would face criminal penalties.

The National Buddhism Office (NBO) will decideon November 29 next Monday whether the 2,002 foetuses found at Wat Phai Ngern would be cremated or buried, PM's Office Minister Ongarn Klampaiboon said yesterday.

Legally, the foetuses could be cremated once autopsies being performed by Chulalongkorn Hospital are complete, but a Thai tradition cautions against cremating babies who die before all of the milk teeth grow.

Ongart dismissed muchheralded reports on legal amendments to relax conditions further for legal abortion, saying the idea was not raised by the Democrat Party, but only floated by MP Sathit Pitutecha.

"The socalled freely allow abortion idea is not an initiative by the government nor the Democrat Party. It came from just a group of Democrat MPs."

He said most Democrat MPs disagreed with any change to the laws on abortion, which were appropriate under the Criminal Code.

The monks at Wat Phai Ngern called on superฌstitious lottery punters to stop gathering at the temple to seek numbers from the foetuses or conduct any activities that caused a nuisance.

Women's rights activists and academics call for the termination of unwanted pregnancies, especially among young women or students, to become a national agenda item to be addressed immediately by the government and society.

Researcher Naphaphorn Hawanont said firsthand accounts by women who have had unwanted pregnancies would serve as useful stimulants for society and authorities to solve such problems, if they are willing to speak publicly about the ordeals they have suffered.

A group of women's rights activists proposed making two new conditions applicable to legal abortion: ineffective or failed birthcontrol methods implemented by married women or their husbands that led to unplanned pregnancy, and proof that a baby would be born with physical or mental disabilities.

Mahidol University lecturer Krittaya Artchawanitkul said the mental health of women should also be allowed as a condition, not just their physical health, under Article 305 of the Criminal Code, which stipulates reasons for seeking a legal abortion, which must be performed by two doctors with the woman's consent.

[Admin]

More illegal abortion clinics raided
By Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation
2010-12-28

The Public Health Ministry and the Centre for Children, Juveniles and Women Police yesterday raided several illegal clinics and arrested operators in the Khu Bon and Ramkhamhaeng areas.

Noknoi Pakdeelon, a 26-year-old former nursing assistant, was arrested by the Centre for Children, Juveniles and Women Police for illegally selling abortion pills and helping end early pregnancies out of her flat in Khu Bon Soi 31. Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit was also present.

Noknoi worked at a private clinic providing abortion services on Hathairat Road in Bangkok's Minburi district for four months. Police say she attended to six pregnant women in her flat, and referred those pregnant for more than three months to a clinic near the Future Park Rangsit Department Store.

They said most of her customers, aged between 16 and 25, first visited the clinic on Hathairat Road before being sent to Noknoi's flat to pick up abortion pills. The pills were sold for about Bt500 each, and the entire abortion service cost between Bt7,000 and Bt8,000.

"I only provided consultation but some of the pregnant women wanted me to insert the pill for them," Noknoi said. "Of course, I felt guilty but I had no choice. Some of them were students and told me that they had no choice but to go through the abortion otherwise they would get into trouble with their parents."

Noknoi could face a Bt30,000 fine and three years in jail for violating the Medical Practice Bill, as well as another three years in jail and a Bt60,000 fine for abusing the Hospital Bill. She will be tried under the criminal law for providing illegal abortions.

Later, Jurin and the police officers visited the clinic on Hathairat Road but found it had closed down 30 minutes before their arrival. Then Jurin and his team headed for another clinic on Ramkhamhaeng Road and arrested four suspects. The clinic's patients were referred from another practice nearby, and it charged Bt8,200 for aborting three-month-old foetuses.

Director-general of the Department of Health Support Service, Dr Somchai Pinyopornpanich, said most illegal abortion clinics worked undercover, and many served patients referred by other practices. The department said it would gather as much information as it could about doctors providing illegal abortion services and use it as evidence for the Medical Council to withdraw their licences.

The Public Health Ministry is also keeping a close eye on private clinics providing beauty, surgery, drug-rehabilitation and family-planning services because they might also be providing illegal abortions.

[boloa]

So many cut-and-pastes... and nobody comments!  This is par for the course in Thailand... an abuse is revealed, a crackdown is announced, a few small fry are caught with great publicity, the whole question dies down, and the abuse, whatever it is, creeps back.  Examples... porn on bookstalls, underage prostitution, drugs, police corruption, illegal occupation of land, you name it.

Why would the Thai Government want to legalise abortions,someone has to work on the farms and be used in the factories for cheap labour.I'm sure most Hi-so families that find their daughter has become pregnant by accident would have no trouble in finding a good hospital to take care of the problem !!! As for you other comments Mike,spot on as normal..nobody give a dam..... as its the corrupt police and government official's  that are behind most of it !!!

[Admin]

Thai undertaker jailed for hiding 2,000 foetuses
Source: AFP 2011-01-27 | AFP News.

BANGKOK, January 27, 2011 (AFP) - A Thai court has jailed an undertaker for 20 years for helping to hide 2,002 illegally aborted foetuses discovered in a Bangkok temple last year, an official said Thursday.

Suchart Phumee was initially sentenced to two months for each of the corpses after pleading guilty to two charges of concealing the bodies and assisting illegal abortion clinics, said state prosecutor Rucha Krairiksha.

The cumulative sentences amounted to 333 years.

But the 38-year-old, who worked at the Phai Ngern Buddhist temple where the corpses were hidden, saw his sentence lowered to 20 years, ten years for each charge, the maximum penalty under Thai law.

A second suspect, Suthep Chabangbon, denied the charges.

"The court sentenced him to 20 years and asked the prosecutor to refile the case of another suspect, who retracted his guilty plea, in the next seven days," Rucha said.

The foetuses, wrapped in plastic bags, were uncovered over several days in November in the temple's three mortuary rooms.

The grisly discoveries shocked Thailand and highlighted the scale of illegal abortions in a country where the procedure is only allowed when delivery would harm the mother or the pregnancy is the result of rape.

Police said some of the corpses had been stored for more than a year.

They would normally have disposed of by placing them with the remains of people being cremated, but the furnaces had broken and the number of bodies had built up while repair work was carried out.

Buddhist temples often store bodies in specially refrigerated areas.

Police have since raided suspected illegal abortion clinics, while the government has suggested banning sex with girls under 20 and lawmakers have proposed relaxing legislation.

Kamheang Chaturachinda, president of the Women's Health and Reproductive Rights Foundation of Thailand, has said each year up to 400,000 Thai women undergo abortions carried by untrained people in unhygienic conditions.

According to Chaturachinda, a former president of the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, about 12 to 15 percent of them are teenagers.