Desperate mothers abandoning babies seem to be a regular occurrence in this country. Sometimes the outcome is positive and the child survives, but recently a dead baby was found in a shoe box in the garden of an apartment building.
There have been calls for safe facilities to be provided - as is normal in a lot of other countries, but this has been totally ignored by both the churches and the politicians.
Pregnancy is a major hazard for many women. There are religious taboos that can involve grave consequences - and in some case death by execution. Personal relationships can fray and then there is the delicate balance within individual families that cause some women to desperately keep a birth secret.
The outcome can be a baby left on a stranger's doorstep ! Or it can result in a dead child abandoned in a public place. Both should be unacceptable in a caring society.
It would cost so little to create a safe refuge for an unwanted child in such places as fire stations or hospitals - which are manned 24/7.
All that is needed is a delivery box in a discreet position, connected to a buzzer that would alert staff. It would be wise if this buzzer had a time delay of a minute or so to give the distressed mother time to walk away unchallenged, thus ensuring that the facility would be more likely to be used.
Why is this logical need unmet ? Is it because of the dead hand of religion which seems to have strange inhibitions on pregnancy - and the sex act that precedes it - or is it the usual apathy of our politicians when it comes to problems that only concern women ?
Today we go to the polls to elect Federal politicians - and early next year we will have a state election.
What odds this subject does not get a mention when the state election hoop-la begins well before next March ?
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