2002 Fetal Remains and Our College

Abstract

The discovery of 2002 fetal remains in the 3
temple crematorium in Bangkok last November had
shocked and dismayed Thai society(1). Some felt that
this is only a tip of an iceberg, for there are tens of
thousands of temples in Thailand. The pictures and
news reverberated around the world(2-4). However, that
initial shock and indignation was short lived, now 6
months later it is almost forgotten. It generated a lot of
intense discussion from news and social media,
concerned organizations, women’s movements and
government ministries that were seen to be responsible.
The discussions touched mainly on morality issues as
well as health and social well being of women including
women’s rights issue. The government immediate
response was a well publicized raids on several
legitimate and illegitimate clinics in Bangkok and up
country(5,6). This ‘knee jerk’ reaction served only to
temporary close down further access to safe abortion
driving up the market price of abortion. Since then the
main focus of the government has been on the
discussion of prevention of teenage pregnancy, even
though teenage pregnancy represents less than 20
percent of the problem.