Abarintos, Kenneth A.

B Pol-Sci 2 Southeast Asia Nations MWF (3:00-4:00)

ABORTION ISSUE IN THAILAND

“Following the horrific discovery of 348 fetuses dumped at Bangkok temple compound on
November 16, 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 future.” The issue on abortion in
Thailand is very disappointing in my part. It is an issue that evokes, on all sides with very strong feelings
and judgments. The issue in Thailand mainly focuses on the students. Women threw their fetus to some
clinics in Bangkok which are kept hidden to the clinics. As far as I can say, a fetus is not a "collection of
cells dividing within the body similar to cancer cells". A fetus is considered a person. If you murder me
and I'm pregnant to the point to where my child is considered a fetus, you have committed TWO
murders under the law. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a woman’s right to choose, however, to attack
someone else’s views on it or the "religion" solves nothing. Women should have the right to choose, and
EVERYONE has the right to live in this world just like the fetuses. Just because you do not agree means
nothing. Everyone is different. One girl said that she and her boyfriend never had a problem with
unprotected sex until her period was three-mo2nths delayed and test results showed she was pregnant.
She cried in shock and decided to undergo abortion because she didn’t want her parents to know and be
disappointed in her. If this is the case, why do these students have to do sex if they are not prepared to
the consequences? Are they aware that they are committing a very heavy sin? People in Thailand
conclude that abortion can be morally right to terminate pregnancy before normal child birth. Some
think that abortion is always wrong. They think that abortion is right when the mother’s life is at risk.
Others think that there is a range of circumstances in which abortion is morally acceptable. But still,
abortion in a certain nation is a crime. For me, people who commit abortion must be punished because
we don’t have the right to kill a being. Though abortion is still illegal in Thailand, there are exceptions in
cases of rape, incest, a threat to the mother's physical or psychological health or if the mother is
underage. Looks like the anti choice women haters are out in full force. Since the Government's
attempt to control women's bodies isn't working why not try another angle? Fix all males at birth. Once
they grow up and can prove they can financial support their children to the Government, they can
reverse it. In time, with increasingly sophisticated and available forms of birth control, abortions may
not be necessary at all. Let's hope for that day to come as quickly as possible. For what it’s worth, I'm
agnostic and don't presume to speak on behalf of any 'religious groups'. I simply believe very strongly
that the progressive arc of civilization always curves away from the barbaric and inhumane and towards
the benevolent and compassionate. It enshrines in law and ritual the better angels of our natures.
Abortions have existed throughout history, my point exactly: they are barbaric and awful. And not to be
argumentative, but if you examine the medical documentation, you'll find that the procedure very
frequently damages the patient physically (look into the correlation between abortions and cancer
rates) and for many (not all, admittedly) has lasting, traumatic psychological effect. Every day thousands
of Asian women driven by desperation, poverty and social stigma seek help from unskilled providers, or
quacks, to end unplanned pregnancies. Every day more than 100 such women--many of them young
girls just beginning their lives--die as a result. Tens of thousands more suffer life-long disabilities. In Asia,
unsafe abortion accounts for 12 percent of all maternal, or pregnancy-related, deaths and claims the
lives of 38,000 women each year, according to the World Health Organization. This is an indication that
abortion cases throughout Asia is increasing rapidly. By liberalizing restrictive abortion laws and
allocating resources toward providing safe abortion services, governments can save the lives of tens of
thousands of women every year. Unsafe abortion has reached such epic proportions in Asia that political
will and civil society efforts need to be synergized to adequately address this issue. To ensure
reproductive and sexual health and reduce maternal morbidity and mortality, one of the most
achievable interventions is to ensure that safe abortion services must be in place. As I searched into
statistics,

This issue can also be related to the Philippines because majority of the Filipinos are engaged to
abortion. About 400,000 abortions were performed illegally in the Philippines and 80,000
hospitalizations of women for abortion-related complications. Isn’t it unfair for the unborn baby to be
just placed in a worst situation like that? I started to realize that some people in Thailand and in the
Philippines are very immoral. They don’t advocate the right to life which is an essential right for every
individual. he abortion issue is a non-ending spiral of contention not only in the Philippines but all over
the world, especially when one speaks of the marvelous and elusive power of "freedom of choice". It is a
power one can muster to ravel a tapestry of available options in life. It has become the snippy, crafty
and stirring battle cry of pro-choice to justify the Abortion Bill. We need to redeem the true meaning of
the freedom of choice. We need to proclaim that "choice" is adverse especially when the fundamental
right to life is at stake. We need to reaffirm our commitment that the most viable choice is to love both
the mother and the baby in her womb. What most pro-lifers are also afraid of is that once people know
that "abortion is now legal", this will now be applied to various cases, not only to the special cases
mentioned. This will be the start of the "abortion is the answer mentality". In the countries that have
legalized abortion, the original intent was only for "special cases" due to the compassion for women. But
today, their abortion statistics show less than 1% of the cases are due to rape, defective babies, or
health of the mother. The 99% are for family planning or women's choice" reasons. Those countries
especially in Southeast Asia are also wrought with women suffering. I am thankful that there are these
pro life organizations which invoke abortion to certain countries. Pro-life organizations further asserts
that if the government would want to reach out to women with unwanted pregnancies, help should
come in providing counseling services, education programs, maternal and child care services, economic
and social development programs that would put a stop to rape, incest, sex outside of marriage and
other causes of unwanted pregnancies. Abortion or the "quick fix" is therefore not the solution.