Reproductive health and rights: Emergency contraceptive pills is Thailand. (Tidbits On Thai Women's Movements).

Min Min Lama was just 13 years-old when she was sentenced to 20 years in jail. Her crime? To have been raped by a relative, become pregnant and selected to have an abortion, which is illegal in her home country of Nepal. The rapist was charged but released. Min Min herself, thanks to the lobbying efforts of the international community, left jail last month, after two years of incarceration.

Min Min's punishment may have been stringent, but she is not alone in her plight. Here, more than 200,000 young girls become reluctant mothers-to-be each year--whether through rape or consensual sex--and many opt for termination of pregnancy. Abortion is also illegal in Thailand, so the operations are performed in back-street clinics where hygiene is abysmal. In many cases, infection sets in and the girl dies.

In Nepal, Min Min and her parents had little choice. Here, an effective post-coital pregnancy prevention regimen does exist--the emergency contraceptive pill (ECP), sometimes referred to as the "morning-after pill." Unfortunately, however, too many people are confused as to how and in what circumstances it should be used.

Recently, the Population Council in Thailand held a meeting at the River City hotel to discuss the pros and cons of the emergency contraceptive pill. While the experts agreed that ECP is a viable solution, few were prepared to wholeheartedly support it as the "treatment of choice'" in preventing unwanted pregnancy.

Some experts compared it to motorcycle helmets or airbags in minimizing injuries sustained in road accidents. The point was also made that while the ECP is mentioned in the text of the Reproductive Rights of Women as an emergency option, only a minority of women are aware of their right to use it.

Yet despite its availability on the open market, some 200,000 illegal abortions still take place each year. Says Dr Kritaya Archavanitkul of Mahidol University: "Abortion is now widespread in our society. Clinics or doctors operating outside the law charge at Bt 10,000. There is no after-care. The girl is told to go home. If we take into account the emotional pain and the dangers involved, the cost is very high indeed."

Part of the problem, it seems, is that unlike in other countries, the emergency contraceptive pill is viewed as an alternative to the condom, inter-uterine device or even the standard pregnancy prevention pill.