Measures to prevent teen pregnancy should not punish the girls at risk. But the draft bill by the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) is doing just that.
The controversial draft to "prevent teen pregnancy" is the handiwork of the NLA's Public Health Committee. Despite its good intentions of clamping down on rising teen pregnancy rates, the draft is driven by the belief that this social problem can be solved with strict controls and draconian measures.
It is true that teen pregnancy in Thailand is a serious problem. The rate here is among the highest in the world and steadily on the rise. But the NLA legislative response is misguided.
According to the UN Population Fund Thailand, the average teenage pregnancy ratio in the Asia-Pacific region was 35:1,000 girls in 2012. In Thailand it was 54:1,000 in the same year, a sharp rise from 31:1,000 in 2000. The statistics are alarming. More than 125,000 girls aged 19 years old and younger in Thailand become mothers. That's one in 20 girls in this age group. More dismayingly, 4,000 of these teen mothers are under 15.
In fact, the number of teenage pregnancies could be two or three times higher than these figures, given the fact that many decide to end their unplanned pregnancies. With the lack of safe and legal abortions, many of them suffer severe complications, with some even dying.
To be fair, the NLA draft bill does recognise the need to provide better sex education in schools and reproductive consultation services at hospitals. These measures are long overdue. The problem is the NLA's belief that threats and punishment will make it happen. According to the draft, failure to provide sex education and consultation services is against the law, implying punishment. Schools and hospitals need proper training and comprehensive support to do that. Operations carried out under fear of punishment will doom the projects to failure right from the start.
While effective intervention is based on trust, confidentiality and respect for the girls' rights, these principles are trampled upon by the NLA's proposed measures.
For example, the draft says teachers can ask officials from other state agencies to intervene and stop girls' high-risk behaviour, without the girls' or their families' consent.
Furthermore, officials are authorised to issue warnings to parents, order schools or parents to give them reports on family situations, girls' behaviour, and their private information relating to sexuality and sexual activities. This is unacceptable.
Officials are also empowered to enter homes or any premises where they believe girls are engaging in high-risk sex in order to stop it. They can also detain girls for questioning for 12 hours.
Girls can also be taken away from their parents if officials believe they have failed at parenting. Those who refuse to co-operate with officials will face a maximum one-month jail sentence and/or a maximum fine of 10,000 baht.
This draft is deeply sexist. It focuses on and blames teen pregnancy on "bad girls". Subsequently, the measures are aimed at punishing them. This draft is also deeply elitist, blaming struggling parents, without targeting structural factors that weaken families and alienate kids from schools.
This is yet another piece of legislation that shows our lawmakers, who are expected to carry out reform, still have an old-world mentality. The draft -- written by the officials concerned to increase their power without consulting stakeholders -- is also obsolete.
This coercive legislation is out of touch with modern reality and the complex problems of teen pregnancy. It is a gross violations of basic rights. It must be dropped.