Abortion, Sin and the State in Thailand

This book discusses abortion in a non-Western, non-Christian context - in Thailand, where over 200,000 to 300,000 illegal abortions are performed each year by a variety of methods.

Although abortion remains one of the most controversial issues of our age, to date most studies have centred on the debate in Western countries. This book discusses abortion in a non-Western, non-Christian context - in Thailand, where, although abortion is illegal, over 200,000 to 300,000 abortions are performed each year by a variety of methods. The book, based on extensive original research in the field, examines a wide range of issues, including stories of the real-life dilemmas facing women, popular representations of abortion in the media, the history of the debate in Thailand and its links to politics. Overall, the work both highlights the voices of women and their subjective experiences and perceptions of abortion, and in addition places these 'women's stories' in an analysis of broader socio-political gender and the power relations - national and international - that structure sexuality and women's reproductive health decisions.

1. Introduction: Bearing Politics 2. Abortion, Sin and the State 3. A History of the Abortion Debate 4. Conceiving the Nation: Representations of Abortion in Thailand 5. Corrupt Girls, Victims of Men, Desperate Women: Representations of Women who Abort 6. 'A Small Sin': Everyday Acts 7. 'The Truth of our Day by Day Lives': Situational Ethics 8. Global Debates, Local Dilemmas