The girl (pseudonym) is in her final year of vocational school, with only an internship left before graduation. She has a boyfriend she has been with for two years. When a urine test revealed she was pregnant, she consulted her boyfriend, but he seemed irresponsible. After that, she couldn’t contact him because he blocked her on Line, blocked her phone number, and even closed his Facebook account. Given the situation, she considered not continuing the pregnancy because her period was only a month late.
She wants to graduate and doesn’t want to disappoint her mother. If she continues the pregnancy, both she and her mother would face difficulties. She lives with her mother and grandmother; her parents separated when she was young. Her mother is a farmer, and her grandmother is old and unable to care for herself, making the family’s financial situation poor. She has to work part-time to earn money while studying. Not continuing the pregnancy seems to be the best option…
The decision to have an abortion puts her at risk of violating criminal code section 301, which states that if a woman causes herself or has someone else cause an abortion, she could face up to three years in prison and/or a fine of up to sixty thousand baht.
Her life circumstances make it impossible to continue the pregnancy; she just wants to graduate and have a better future, not wanting her mother and grandmother to suffer. She questions in her heart why the law only punishes women, while her boyfriend, who abandoned her, faces no consequences. People who know about it blame her for being foolish, and the law only penalizes women who have to find a way out alone during difficult times… Where is the justice?