Change in mindset critical in preventing baby dumping
I READ with sadness the report “Nine babies dumped every month” (Sunday Star, Aug 9; online at https:// bit.ly/2DweMwp), which also mentioned that 53 baby dumping cases occurred between January and June this year.
This means that, on average, one baby is dumped every three days in Malaysia. These tragic statistics have remained the same for more than 15 years despite the policies and laws in place.
In fact, just last month, a teenage mother was charged for murder after she allegedly flung her baby out of the apartment while in a state of shock over the unplanned birth.
This tragedy will continue with more babies dying in the most unimaginable circumstances and teenage lives and their future destroyed completely due to moments of misjudgement.
Plans and policies to tackle baby dumping must involve further studies on the existing programmes and their effectiveness. Questions must also be asked about the effectiveness of baby hatches and proposals to increase legal literacy among teenagers (to make sure that they know the serious consequences of baby dumping).
Being scared and not knowing where to seek help or what to do after delivering the baby are causes of dumping that have been identified by the authorities.
Clearly, our existing programmes, policies and laws are not working, judging by the number of baby dumping cases every year.
We can’t legislate our way out of this complex problem. Neither can we continually place the blame on teenagers and adolescents, hoping to change their behaviour.
The tumultuous transition from adolescence to adulthood involves complex hormonal changes that affect the physical, mental and sexual health of teenagers.
Stigmatisation of the natural biological transitions that teenagers experience would not assist in any way to alleviate the complexity of their challenges in preventing unplanned pregnancies.
There is concrete evidence globally that imparting comprehensive sexuality education and providing access to sexual and reproductive health services can reduce unplanned teenage pregnancies.
In addition, destigmatisation of unwed mothers and creating a supportive, non-punitive and non-judgemental system for teenagers in need are associated with a reduced number of baby dumping cases.
The answers have been known for decades, yet we continue to institute measures that are ineffectual, stop-gap in nature or, worse, subscribe to misguided beliefs that perpetuate more harm than was originally intended.
The implementation of evidence-based policies and programmes is critical if we are going to have a fighting chance in resolving this extremely serious issue.
It’s time we recognise that baby dumping is the most tragic outcome of a systemic failure and only by adopting a new mindset and complete overhaul of our programmes and policies would we be able to ensure that no baby is ever dumped in this country again.