Baby Dumping: A heart-wrenching crime,but who is to be blamed?

22 Aug Baby Dumping: A heart-wrenching crime,but who is to be blamed?

A baby was born a few days ago. Soon after, he was hastily wrapped in a piece of cloth and tied outside to the grill of a window. His young mother then tried to feign discovery of him as she alerted her family to his presence. The physical strain of having just given birth however, was simply too much to conceal and she eventually admitted to investigating officers that the child was hers.

This 19-year-old mother, not too long ago a child herself, had somehow managed to keep her pregnancy a secret from her family. As a consequence, she had no choice but to give birth to her baby unassisted, before somehow summoning the strength to disguise that baby and pass him off as someone else’s. One can only imagine the immense pain and exhaustion she must have endured, not to mention the agony of having to suffer that pain silently so as not to alert anyone else in her household of her situation.

That baby is one of the lucky few, however. At the very least, despite clearly not wanting to claim him as her own, his young mother nevertheless kept him alive. Many undesired infants before him, have suffered far more terrible fates. We have all heard of the innumerable cases of babies being abandoned upon birth and in all likelihood, we will continue to hear of more such incidents in the future.

The Malaysian statistics on baby dumping are deeply concerning. An average of 100 babies are dumped every year, with more than half found dead. These are only the cases that we know of; presumably many other unwanted babies have been disposed of, with no chance of ever being found. The mothers in these instances are very often young and unmarried, with teen pregnancies being one of the main contributing factors leading to babies being dumped.

As such, it really is about time that we stopped being in denial about certain realities of baby dumping and infanticide. Ignorance is certainly not bliss in this matter. Rather than constantly bemoaning the fate that falls upon these unfortunate babies and instead of wagging our fingers and clicking our tongues judgementally every time a newborn is dumped or murdered, let us try and arrest the issue using a pro-active approach for a change ACTnow…or never!