LAST month, a new born baby with his umbilical cord still attached was abandoned in an office building in George Town. The baby had a note attached “please look after this child”.
He was discovered by an officer and handed over to the authorities. The baby was fortunate of not being dumped. Last week, the body of a baby girl with the umbilical cord still attached was found inside a plastic box behind a business premise in Batu Pahat. This baby was unfortunate.
Nearly every week or month, reports of babies abandoned are flashed over our media print. According to police, an average of 70 to 80 babies are abandoned or dumped in a year.
The figures do not take into account the number of babies disposed of without a trace. It also does not take into account the number of unmarried and underaged girls who have had their foetuses illegally aborted in private clinics.
Every case of baby dumping is the result of unprotected sex and unwanted pregnancy. Young girls who deliver babies out of wedlock, find themselves in a precarious situation. Their boyfriends do not own up or shirk responsibility.
The girls are unable to relate their pregnancy to their families for fear of being disowned. The social stigma attached to premarital pregnancies in society leads them to conceal and abandon the babies to horrifying deaths.
Parents should help their children to deal with issues of sex and pregnancy. There is a need for a change of mindset to being a caring and responsible parent in dealing with teenage pregnancy. The Biar Mati Anak, Jangan Mati Adat maxim has to change.
Comprehensive reproductive and sexual education can reduce the statistics of teenagers involved in sexual misconduct. Curiosity and raging hormones make them involve in what is forbidden and taboo.
We need to raise awareness on the sanctity of marriage. Young girls should be advised not to engage in risky sexual encounters before marriage or they may end up feeling miserable, used and guilty.
According to the Health Ministry, 18,000 teenage pregnancies occur in the country each year, and out of this, 4,500 involves out of wedlock pregnancies. The authorities need to help these young people, and open more baby hatch centres for young unwed mothers to leave their babies.
Confidentiality should be assured and these girls should not be persecuted.
Places of worship, hospitals and clinics can act as “drop-off zones”, and the babies can be relocated to the baby hatch or welfare centres.
Everything should be done to ensure that no more babies lose their lives. Baby dumping and abandonment is a social scourge that has to be addressed by society.
Samuel Yesuiah
Seremban
