EDITORIAL : THE NEW STRAITS TIMES, MALAYSIA

A place for baby

WHEN OrphanCare first mooted the idea of setting up a baby hatch at its centre early last year, the idea was greeted with howls of protest from various sectors of society, including the government. A baby hatch would encourage promiscuous behaviour, it was argued, because it made abandoning illegitimate babies easier. Now, nearly one year after its launch, OrphanCare intends to install more hatches nationwide, including at government hospitals.

Of the 30 babies that OrphanCare has welcomed in the past year, only one was actually deposited in the hatch. The rest were brought into the centre itself by either their mothers or both parents, who came in and spoke to the centre's staff. That these parents gave up their babies in face-to-face meetings during the centre's opening hours, and not with the surreptitious anonymity of dropping the baby in the hatch in the middle of the night, is significant. It suggests that what these parents wanted was a place in which they could ensure that the baby could be left in good hands, but which at the same time guaranteed that this could be done quietly, safely and confidentially. So, although there was a hatch available, its function was actually symbolic, to say: "We do not judge you."

In this, the baby hatch is indeed a success because it prevents these babies from being dumped in dustbins and toilets, and ending up dead. Significantly, above OrphanCare's hatch is the sign "Baby Hatch" in English, which has come to mean "Drop baby here". But its Malay translation is "Pelindung Bayi", which means "baby shelter" or "baby protector" -- a description that truly reflects the hatch's purpose.

These abandoned babies will, hopefully, be adopted by couples who want and can afford to look after them. But even so, a state in which unwanted babies are created then abandoned by their parents is never the ideal. More than ever now, there is a desperate need for sexual reproductive health education. Counselling and access to family planning methods must not be limited to wedded couples. Having sex, getting pregnant and having a baby and all the attendant responsibilities that come with that should be a conscious, mature and informed choice, not an accident born of ignorance. Regardless of society's moralistic stance on illegitimate conception, it must not shy away from the fact that as many as one out of every 10 babies born last year was illegitimate. It must instead aim to absolve these children from the sins of their parents once they are born.