BANGKOK — Thailand will permit abortions as much as the twentieth week of being pregnant beneath new laws issued by the Public Well being Ministry, a authorities spokesperson introduced Tuesday.
The laws, revealed Monday within the Royal Gazette, come into impact Oct. 26 and liberalize the phrases of a regulation in place since February final 12 months that allowed the termination of pregnancies throughout the first 12 weeks.
Thailand’s Constitutional Court docket in February 2020 struck down statutes within the Prison Code banning abortions, declaring they violated equal rights for women and men and the rights to life and liberty.
Underneath the brand new laws, ladies in search of abortions between the twelfth and twentieth weeks should first seek the advice of with and obtain approval from a licensed medical practitioner. Up till the twelfth week, ladies could make preparations on their very own to have the process carried out at a medical facility. After the twentieth week, the fetus have to be carried to time period.
Abortions throughout the first 12 weeks turned authorized in Thailand in February 2021 beneath amendments to the Prison Code. Beforehand that they had been unlawful, with important numbers of exceptions made for instances during which the mom’s bodily or psychological well being was threatened, the lady was beneath 15 years of age or turned pregnant as the results of rape or incest, or the fetus had severe disabilities or deformities.
Deputy authorities spokesperson Traisulee Traisoranakul stated the brand new laws name for the consultations within the second trimester to be primarily based on openness and kindness in coping with being pregnant points, to be non-judgmental of ladies’s habits and selections, and to permit selections on whether or not or to not have abortions to be made “with out bias, power, and with respect for privateness.”
