NLA mulls draft bill to tackle teenage pregnancy issues
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The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) Thursday considered draft legislation on the prevention of teenage pregnancy issues, which called for the establishment of a committee to propose policies and measures to solve the problem of teenage pregnancy.
The 28-article draft bill included measures such as providing youngsters with proper sex education, allowing teenage mothers to continue their studies in an appropriate way until graduation, and imposing a maximum jail term of one month and/or a fine of Bt10,000 for those who refuse to help endangered teens.
The draft bill, proposed by Jate Siratharanon and 54 other NLA members, covered sexual violence, sexual assaults, premature sex and pregnancy as well as sexually transmitted diseases.
As these are issues of national-level importance that affect the rights, liberties, health, family ties and quality of life of teenagers, measures or mechanisms need to be put in place to solve the problem of teenage pregnancy.
Deputy Public Health Minister Somsak Chunharas said the Public Health Ministry would take this bill to study within 20 days before submitting it to the Cabinet’s consideration, after which the bill would be passed onto NLA for deliberation in the first reading.
