Global Courant 2023-05-23 15:00:00
Go back to the events of 2010, when the discovery of thousands of rotting fetuses hidden in a temple in Bangkok sparked increased awareness and debate about illegal abortions in predominantly Buddhist Thailand.
The gruesome remains at Wat Phai Ngern were traced to a network of clinics. The case exposed the scale of the illegal abortion industry at a time when the procedure was still largely illegal and heavily stigmatized.
ST’s Thailand correspondent Tan Tam Mei interviews and narrates this podcast.
Highlights (click/tap above):
2:03 A dog chews on something in the middle of a temple in Bangkok; Supote Leangbamrong, an old temple worker, remembers the stench and the discovery by the authorities in 2010
5:52 Shock waves across Thailand; abortion was barely discussed and was largely illegal and taboo at the time
08:57 Nurse assistant Lanchakorn Janthamanas’ underground operation; bringing in two temple undertakers to dispose of the bodies
11:40 Abortion activist Supeecha Baotip on how women’s voices were missing from the abortion discussion, her own story and how much has changed since the crime case
17:44 Restrictions against abortion eased in 2021, sweeping legal changes in Thailand
20:00 Cultural Beliefs: Why Some Doctors Don’t Abort Because They Fear Karma
23:09 Increasing the availability of legal abortions and changing mindsets; abortion offered as a telehealth service in Thailand
25:05 Rumors of the souls of the aborted fetuses haunting the temple linger even more than a decade later
Interviews and narration by: Tan Tam Mei (tammei@sph.com.sg)
Executive Producers: Ernest Luis (ernest@sph.com.sg) and Tan Tam Mei
Podcast producers: Teo Tong Kai and Fa’izah Sani
Voiceovers: Raul Dancel, Shahrena Hassan, Lee Nian Tjoe, Joel Chng
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