Once strict, over time laws have been relaxed to take into account high rates of teen pregnancy, women who lack the means or will to raise children, and the consequences of illegal abortion.
The Council of State replied that this was impermissible, since the law allowed only consideration for the health of the mother, and not the child.
[4] This has been widely interpreted to include women who are emotionally distressed at the prospect of having children they cannot raise.
The regulation restricts clinics like those operated by the Planned Parenthood Association of Thailand to provide abortions to women only in their first trimester of pregnancy.
Termination of a foetus that is fewer than nine weeks from gestation is permitted if some or all of the following criteria are met: (1) medical necessity, (2) legal necessity (e.g., rape), (3) female is under 15 years of age (and unmarried), (4) the foetus is at risk of severe abnormalities or genetic disorders.
[2] Section 305 of the anti-abortion law, allowing for legal abortion when the pregnancy involves rape or endangers a mother's physical health, was judged to be not in violation of the charter.
Following the Court's ruling, on 17 November 2020 the Government submitted a bill amending the two sections of the penal code: under the new Section 305 abortion on request would become legal in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, while pregnancy termination would always be made available not only in case of rape or when the woman's health is in danger but also in case of serious fetal impairment; under the new Section 301 penalties for later-term abortion would be reduced to no longer than six months of jail and/or a fine no higher than 10,000 baht.
Data from the Thai Department of Health showed that 72,566 teens aged 10–19 years old gave birth in 2018, or 199 such babies being born per day.
[13] According to the Thai National Health Security Office, over 300,000 women have sought medical treatment at state hospitals for incomplete abortions from 2009 to 2019.
The casualties mount even though safe, WHO-approved abortion pills, legal in more than 60 countries, have been available for over a decade.
[5] Health department data suggest that most women seek abortions for social and economic reasons.
[5] The lack of national data means that his bureau resorts to conducting a yearly survey called the "Abortion Surveillance Report".
Buddhism is the faith of 98% of the Thai populace, and nearly all Buddhist clergy and experts view abortion as a transgression that will haunt the "sinner".