ABSTRACT

This book discusses abortion in a non-Western, non-Christian context - in Thailand, where over 300,000 illegal 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 highlights the voices of women and their subjective experiences and perceptions of abortion, and places these 'women's stories' in an analysis of broader socio-political gender and power relations that structure sexuality and women's reproductive health decisions.

chapter 1|10 pages

Introduction

Bearing politics

chapter 2|18 pages

Abortion, sin and the state

chapter 3|37 pages

A history of the abortion debate

chapter 4|25 pages

Conceiving the nation

Representations of abortion in Thailand

chapter 5|18 pages

Corrupt girls, victims of men, desperate women

Representations of women who abort

chapter 6|20 pages

‘A small sin’

Everyday acts

chapter 7|19 pages

‘The truth of our day-by-day lives’

Situational ethics

chapter 8|10 pages

Global debates, local dilemmas