Council president Dr Somsak Lohlekha said doctors were afraid of providing abortion treatments to women due to limits of the law.

Article 305 of the Criminal Code stipulates that doctors can only provide abortions to preserve a woman's health or social position, when a

woman is pregnant after being raped.

The use of abortion pills was highly restricted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), he said.

He said the definition of a "woman's health and social position" stated by the law was debatable, since there were no further specific details.

"Many doctors did not dare to provide abortion treatment to some women since they are unsure if the conditions of women are covered by the law or not. Many pregnant women are thus turning to illegal abortion clinics," he said.

The problem was, he said, when women turned to illegal clinics, their pregnancy stage was often longer than two months, the early stage that is considered safe for an abortion.

Somsak urged the FDA to loosen controls on the use of abortion pills to allow doctors to prescribe them to women up to eight weeks pregnant. Then, doctors would feel more comfortable providing abortions to women with unwanted pregnancy regardless of the legal terminology.

Deputy Public Health Minister Dr Wallop Thainua agreed there was a problem. He is now trying to define conditions for Article 305 under which women can have abortions.

"To issue a specific law on abortion is too much as it relates to moral and culture, thus we should make use of an existing law," he said.