Pattaya Cops Find Female Fetus in Abortion Clinic

November 25, 201213 yr

For the fifth time, Pattaya police raided an illegal abortion operation in a Third Road medical clinic. Police discovered a just-aborted fetus from a 20-year-old woman. The woman performing the abortion has been arrested several times before. She charged between 10,000 to 65,000 baht for an abortion.

PATTAYA – November 24, 2012 [PDN]; at 1:30 p.m., an undercover agent informed police that a driver of a motorbike-for-hire was taking a pregnant woman to an illegal abortion clinic.

The report was forwarded to Pol. Lt. Col. Rattha Prathumkaew, Deputy Superintendent, the head of the Center of Protecting Children and Women, Section 2. He went to check the scene with Pol. Lt. Col. Passakorn Paijit, Inspector; Pol. Capt. Arnon Infong, Deputy Inspector; Pol. Sub. Lt. Warakorn Bannasit; and a police team.

The Medical Treatment Clinic performing abortions is in a 4-story building at 223/68 Third Pattaya road in central Pattaya. The building’s first floor is a medical clinic to cure general disease and take care of pregnant women.

Arriving police found the receptionist sitting at the counter, identified as Ms. Jittra Maseeyapak, age 21, from Amphur Phukheaw, Chaiyaphum province. Sitting nearby was the driver of the motorbike-for-hire, identified as Mr. Arkom Sarnmano, age 31, of Petchaboon province.

Mr. Arkom was waiting for his customer, a pregnant woman he had brought to the clinic for an abortion. The police restrained both of them. During questioning, Mr. Arkom confessed that he drove a motorbike-for-hire in Soi 5 central Pattaya.

Mr. Arkom knew that this clinic does abortions, and he wanted to earn money by bringing the teenage girls to do abortions. He got paid 500 THB for each pregnant girl he brought to the clinic, and he had been doing this a long time.

In a fourth-floor room, police found the owner of the clinic performing an abortion. She was identified as Ms. Somjai Buasaeng or Pooky, age 45, from Tambon Pibul, Amphur Pibulmungsaharn, Ubonratchathani province.

Ms. Somjai was performing an abortion on “Ms. A” (alias), age 20, who was lying on the bed and looked very tired. Nearby was a black plastic bag that contained a freshly-aborted female fetus, approximately 5 months old. Police seized some doctor equipment and an unknown type of medicine.

After her arrest, Ms. Somjai admitted to secretly operating abortion clinics for many years. She had been previously arrested four times. After she was bailed out, each time she re-opened the clinic, because she got good revenue from doing abortions.

Usually Ms. Somjai would charge clients according to the stage of pregnancy. Her lowest price is 10,000 THB per person. Most of her customers were teenage girls. To perform the abortion, Ms. Somjai usually gave the pregnant girls medicine that would abort the fetus. But if the baby didn’t come out, she would abort the fetus herself.

The woman whose baby had just been aborted, “Ms. A” began crying as she talked to police, saying she has a boyfriend, and didn’t know that she had gotten pregnant until five months had passed.

But when she found out, she had just gotten a new job, and was afraid that her employer would fire her. As the eldest daughter in her family, Ms. A was obligated to find money for her parents and two younger sisters.

So Ms. A was not ready to have a child, and decided to do an abortion. She paid for the total expense of 65,000 THB. “At first I was afraid that I will get harmful, but because of the necessity, so I had to do it,” Ms. A said. “I felt so sad to do like this.”

After initial investigation, the police revealed that this clinic had been raided and shut down several times. The real owner was Dr. Charnvit Sattayaprasert, who had escaped from the previous arrest warrant. In that case, Ms. Somjai was his assistant.

The police restrained Ms. Somjai, Mr. Arkom and Ms. Jittra to prosecute further according to the law.