This week an inquest brought in a sad finding that a mother was apparently so distressed by the birth of her child that she abandoned it by digging a hole and burying it on a Sydney beach. This topped the news cycle back in November of 2014 when children playing in the sand at Maroubra beach unearthed the badly decomposed body of a tiny newborn baby.
The forensic people have concluded that this was probably a live birth and that the baby was certainly not born in a hospital. They deduced that because the umbilical cord had been cut whereas hospital procedure is for it to be clamped and it is very likely that the infant went into the ground shortly after the woman's pregnancy ended.
Disposing of an unwanted baby is not entirely uncommon. On the world scene live babies have been found in trash bins outside buildings and even left in the bowl of public toilets and obviously there must be some who do not come to public notice and simply disappear into a local landfill or are never discovered.
Pregnancy is a joy to many people, but for some it is the worst tragedy that can happen to a human being. Some religions consider sex out of wedlock such a sin that a pregnant single woman is cast out from the flock and in some families it is regarded as an " honour " stigma that both the woman"s father and brothers are prepared to commit murder to remove the stain. As a result, some women hide their pregnancy successfully - and after the birth have the need to dispose of their child.
Safeguards are in place to allow for a desperate mother to safely allow a newborn to be taken care of and live in many world countries. In the United States this takes the form of a " safety box " at fire stations, while a similar arrangement exists at hospitals in Germany, Canada and the Czech republic. Because all those countries endure a frigid winter, these receptacles are heated and have a time delay alarm to alert staff that a baby has been deposited and yet allow the mother sufficient time to depart the scene without being discovered.
The choice of fire station or hospital is contingent on selecting a venue which is manned 24/7 and which has the capacity to take care of a baby. That is obviously present at any hospital and firemen and women are trained to emergency medical aid standards. These innovations deliver a small number of babies whose life would otherwise be in danger for care and adoption each year.
This Marourbra tragedy has raised the question of our lack of such a safeguard here in Australia.
The media are good at alerting those contemplating suicide that help is available and this same information source could be harnessed to offer women suffering an unwanted pregnancy a means of legally - and anonymously - making their distress someone else's joy !
It would probably be an over reaction to install such a safety box at every hospital or fire station, but if at least a well publicised facility was available in most major centres it could become a valuable part of the pre-planning for those to whom a pregnancy was a threat. This woman who buried her baby on a beach was probably at a depth of despair and could see no other available option.
It is a low cost answer capable of delivering the dividend of at least some lives saved each year !
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