Phorn (a pseudonym) is only 30 years old but already has 5 children. The eldest is 15 years old. Phorn started having a partner at a young age, so life has not been smooth because she eventually separated from her first husband. Phorn takes care of all the children herself with the help of her own mother. Later, she lived with her current husband and had a child together, now 7 months old, still breastfeeding. When she gave birth to the youngest child, the doctor asked about sterilization, but in the end, Phorn didn’t do it because she was afraid of the pain and couldn’t work hard.
Phorn found out she was 8 weeks pregnant, even though the baby was still breastfeeding, so she didn’t use contraception. Her husband, the father of the youngest child, is not very reliable. The family expenses are insufficient. The eldest child had to stop studying to work as a rubber tapper, but now has had a motorcycle accident, causing Phorn to stop her daily wage work to take care of him. Phorn is unlucky that this husband likes to drink alcohol, gets drunk, and becomes violent, sometimes using violence against Phorn and the children. With family life like this, Phorn thought she couldn’t have another child, but she didn’t dare to tell her mother about the pregnancy because her mother already had many burdens. So, she saved money to handle this matter herself. Phorn’s decision this time is to take the best care of the 6 children she already has.
But… having an abortion puts Phorn at risk of being arrested by the police under criminal code section 301, which states, “Any woman who causes herself to have an abortion or allows others to cause her to have an abortion shall be liable to imprisonment for not more than three years or a fine not exceeding sixty thousand baht, or both imprisonment and fine…” If Phorn is arrested and imprisoned, who will take care of the children? Or if fined not more than sixty thousand baht, how many more years will she be in debt… And what will happen to this family’s life?
But if Phorn were born in an era when Thai women in the past could have abortions as a basic right, there would be no women facing problems, some going for unsafe abortions and dying. In fact, in developed countries, abortion is just one aspect of women’s health services (see more on this topic: Why amend the abortion law? https://goo.gl/njddzh)
Having read this far, you might be wondering how Phorn is doing? Phorn is lucky not to be arrested by the police, had a safe abortion, and is now able to take care of her children… We also wonder why women have to wait to be lucky. Wouldn’t it be better if the law was fair to women during the most difficult times of their lives…