The story after the abortion: The story of “Krathin”
Krathin (a pseudonym), 26 years old, lives in a province in the central region. She graduated from grade 9, has a husband, and already has one child. Krathin is pregnant with her second child. She, her husband, and their child live in her father’s house, which is also a motorcycle repair shop where her husband helps out. The income is uncertain and depends on what her father gives, while her father is responsible for all other household expenses. Krathin does not work because she has to take care of her child. She feels sympathy for her father, who is the sole provider for the family and also has to take care of two young grandchildren, the children of her brother, who was arrested for drug trafficking and sentenced to three years in prison. Five months after being imprisoned, her sister-in-law ran away, leaving the two children at home, which doubled her father’s burden.
Krathin knows well that the income from the motorcycle repair shop is not sufficient for a large family with many children. She feels hesitant about this pregnancy and consults with her husband. He also thinks that this pregnancy would make life more difficult for many in the large family, so they decide to send her to risk her life at an illegal abortion clinic… This decision made her life even worse…
After the abortion there, Krathin had to be treated at the hospital for a uterine infection, and the abortion was unsuccessful. The doctor said the baby was still alive because the heart was still beating. After recovering, the hospital allowed her to go home to recuperate. The person who performed the abortion learned that it was unsuccessful and contacted Krathin to return… This time, Krathin felt scared… scared of pain… scared of infection… scared of everything… so she refused to go. But her husband insisted, asking her to go to the abortion clinic just for a check-up.
Krathin decided to call the unplanned pregnancy counseling line, which arranged for her to receive counseling at the hospital’s support center. There, Krathin explained the reasons she had tried to terminate the pregnancy twice. The social worker providing the counseling understood and knew she had economic problems, offering her the choice to continue the pregnancy with the center coordinating assistance for her needs, or if she chose to terminate the pregnancy, they would coordinate to refer her to a safe service provider since the hospital did not offer this service. Krathin asked to go home to decide… Later, she safely terminated the pregnancy through the coordination of the support center and survived safely, able to care for her child and two nieces.
If Krathin had received today’s counseling options from the moment she knew she was not ready for the pregnancy, she would not have had to risk her life with an illegal abortion…