The heading of the
letter
to the editor “Compassion the right way to go” says it all. The
letter reiterates that unwed mothers need compassion not legal
action. The fine or jail term or both do not help the unwed mothers
to cope with what they have done.
The unwed mothers are at a
most vulnerable stage of their lives after they dumped their baby.
They have been through a traumatic experience involving not just
themselves but another live. They did not know who to turn to when
they found out that they were carrying another life inside their
body. The partner meanwhile will usually abscond from sharing the
responsibility and the girl is left to her own devices.
In the end, she is
punished when what the girl needs most is compassion. We know that
she did something wrong. However heinous her action, does it justify
the punishment meted out? Will the sentence really reform her or be a
deterrent to other unwed mothers or reduce the incidences of baby
dumping?
A psychological assessment
of the unwed mother must be done in order to ascertain what actually
triggered her actions. That should be the basis to bring her back
into society and be a more responsible adult. Punishing her is not a
guarantee that she would be a model citizen once the ordeal is over.
Anything can happen as we do not know the state of her mind before,
during and after her actions.
We have not been through
what an unwed mother felt throughout the period from the point of
discovering that she is carrying a child until the time that she
decided to abandon the baby. That girl needs compassion, lots of it.
Image from jezebel
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