Ministry of Public Health’s Policy on Preventing and Solving Unplanned Pregnancy Issues in Adolescents and Women of Reproductive Age and Preventing Unsafe Abortions in Thailand
Currently, the issue of unplanned pregnancies in adolescents and women of reproductive age in Thailand is becoming increasingly severe, leading to social problems and being a major cause of illness and death from unsafe abortions among pregnant women in Thailand. The Ministry of Public Health recognizes its responsibility for this issue and will collaborate with relevant agencies to prevent and solve this problem as follows:
- Promote appropriate cultural, social values, attitudes, and gender roles for adolescents and the reproductive-age population
- Provide sex education to target groups to enhance life skills and prevent unsafe sexual practices
- Educate, create understanding, and foster positive attitudes in all sectors of society to collectively assist women with unplanned pregnancies of all ages, including adolescents and youth
- Establish a system of sexual health services, reproductive health, family planning, and appropriate contraception that is of high quality, friendly, and easily accessible to adolescents and women of reproductive age to prevent teenage pregnancies
- Educate, create understanding, and foster positive attitudes among healthcare providers, develop and disseminate knowledge on quality counseling, prenatal and postnatal care, and safe abortion technology that meets international standards
- Establish a system of support, care, rehabilitation, and promote education and social welfare for pregnant and postpartum adolescents
- Promote reproductive health rights of adolescents and pregnant women by providing comprehensive knowledge to allow adolescents and pregnant women to make independent choices and decisions, offer counseling and postpartum contraception to prevent repeat pregnancies
- Promote quality births; when adolescents and women with unplanned pregnancies need to terminate the pregnancy, they must have the right to receive services and medical care like those with other health issues, receive safe and standard abortion services according to the criteria set forth in the Medical Council’s regulations on medical abortion practices under Section 305 of the Penal Code, B.E. 2559
Signed on February 25, 2016
Source: http://rhold.anamai.moph.go.th/all_file/index/policy_publicHealth.pdf