The rise of baby dumping cases in Malaysia

On July 10, an 18-year old college student was charged with murdering her newborn daughter by tossing the baby out of her 13th-floor apartment unit at Ayer Itam, Penang.

Just last Wednesday (15 July), a new-born baby girl, with her umbilical cord still attached, was found in a trash can at Kampung Teluk Ketapang Market in Terengganu.

In Ipoh just four days later (19 July), another baby was thrown out of the top floor window of a double-storey house by his 16-year old mother. On the same day in Ampang Jaya, a baby girl was found in a box by the roadside.

There have also been reports of aborted babies being dumped in sewage plants, with cases in Melaka last June and more recently (20 July) at the Sri Damansara Indah Water.

These are some of the notable cases reported within the past couple of months, highlighting a serious social concern in Malaysia.

According to Malaysia’s former Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, 1,010 cases of baby dumping have been recorded between 2010 to May 2019, in which 64 per cent of those cases the babies were found dead.

This would mean that people are dumping babies roughly once every three days.

At the heart of the issue are unwanted pregnancies, mainly from underage girls who not only face stigma over being pregnant at a young age but also lacks the knowledge on sexual education and support from their loved ones.

Research shows that around 14 in every 1,000 underage girls in Malaysia get pregnant every year, which adds up to an average of 18,000 girls per year.

With the Movement Control Order (MCO) in place, there has also been a rise of unwanted pregnancies as reported by the Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia (RRAAM).

Dr SP Choong, founder of the organisation told CodeBlue that the average 300 calls per month saw an increase of 20 per cent during the MCO with an almost 10-fold increase from callers with late pregnancies of over 20 weeks.

A baby hatch is one solution being adopted by many states and hospitals to reduce baby dumping cases by providing a safe option for mothers to leave their new-born babies.

However, the idea has been questioned recently with the Perak Women Development, Family and Social Welfare Committee chairman, Datuk Dr Wan Norashikin Wan Noordin, claiming that having too many baby hatches will somehow encourage the behaviour of baby dumping.

Research has shown that a comprehensive sexual education could help educate young teenagers about sexual related problems. Evidently, many of them are misinformed or lack the knowledge on the subject with as many as 35 per cent of Malaysian female youth believing that having sex for the first time does not lead to a pregnancy, based on a 2015 survey backed by the Health Ministry.

On the other hand, abortion can only be allowed when the pregnancy poses a danger to the mother's life, physical health, and mental well-being. Otherwise, abortion is considered illegal and can be charged under the Penal Code.