More people should
read this particular letter
to the editor titled “Unwed mums need compassion”. The main point
of the letter is how we must help the teenage girls and their babies
while trying to rectify the underlying problems.
The current solution of
punishing the unwed mothers does not prevent cases of girls getting
pregnant from occurring in future. Most probably girls who realise
they are pregnant will hide the fact and even try to abort the baby.
They do not have the support system necessary to cope with the
pregnancy. The parents may not even be bothered with their daughter's
life as many are pre-occupied with the daily struggle to make a
living. The girl would be left to her own devices and the quickest
way to get rid of the evidence would be to dump the baby.
When the decision to sever
ties with the baby in that way, she has crossed into a different
territory. It is doubtful whether any girl who dumped their baby
escapes the condemnation of society over her act. She committed a
wrong and must be punished, so says the law but do we care why it
happened.
The reasons behind the act
is the catalyst that brought the girl to that stage. Punishment alone
is not going to solve the problem but a more holistic approach is
needed so others do not succumb to the same drastic act. This needs
everyone's help especially the parents. As the letter mentioned,
reducing teenage pregnancies can only be done by concerted measures
to provide sex education and offer openness to dialogue and to
discuss issues. Parents in general have failed their children in this
respect.
Compassion is not a
popular word in this parts and when it comes to the teenage girls it
is much easier to condemn and punish them. We need to change our
mindset radically so as to help these girls and prevent cases of
teenage pregnancies from increasing in the future. Prevention is
always better than cure.
Image from justicespeaking
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