06-08-2012, 06:01 PM
Apologies, in advance, for the post length; passionate about this topic.
It is heartless, inhumane and cruel that this baby was abandoned; I'm glad the baby is okay (at least physically). I don't believe that all practices of all cultures should be respected. But, I do believe that they should be acknowledged. Ignorance promotes stagnancy.
We read about cases here in the US where primarily young/teenaged women leave newborns in public toilets, trash cans, etc.. Typically, they have kept their pregnancies hidden, like the girl in Turkey. "Boarder babies" was also a huge problem here in the US, with 23,000 newborns per year simply deserted at the hospital by primarily drug-addicted parents (NY Times). Some of the boarder baby and discarded infant problem was alleviated when states started enacting safe haven laws whereby parent(s) can drop off unwanted newborns at designated community havens without fear of prosecution; starting with Texas in 1999 and enacted by all 50 states by 2008.
And, up until July 2001, the US was allowing babies born after unsuccessful late abortion attempts to simply die; they were not given any medical attention because it was deemed that the mother's right not to have a child superceded the baby's right to humane care and life. I support the right to choose/abortion; I did not support the policy whereby living/functioning babies fully removed from their mothers were left to die, in the presence of the mother, clinic personnel, etc... and then discarded. Such was the problem that Federal Legislation was required to clarify that babies born under these circumstances and possessing hearbeats, breathing, and exhibiting voluntary muscle movement are to be considered as "Persons, Human Beings, Children, Individuals" and entitled to the same Constitutional rights as any child born within the United States. Federal legislation was actually required to make this clarification, only a decade ago, in the US (Born Alive Infant Protection act; BAIP - overwhelmingly supported by both Dems and Repubs).
China and Northern India still inhumanely promote female infanticide due to economic and cultural issues. It's creating new problems for China as the number of men greatly exceeds the number of women and single men are considered social outcasts in the country. South Korea is one Asian country that has successfully changed its culture and stopped the killing of baby girls through education and law; they formerly had the same inequity of males to females as China. Now, it's near normal, but it didn't start to happen until South Korea became economically prosperous. Some global humanitarian organizations are present in China, India and other countries where infanticide is practiced. While they are saving babies everyday through education and by offering adoption options, it's not enough.
Infanticide and the discarding of infants as a practice shouldn't be happening anywhere, period, FFS. Ideally, imo, birth control, early abortion, education, cultural realignment, infant protection laws, and adoption options should be aggressively propagated to prevent it. Realistically, it's very hard to penetrate centuries of cultural and religious beliefs. Unbelievably heart-breaking problem with no easy solution.
It is heartless, inhumane and cruel that this baby was abandoned; I'm glad the baby is okay (at least physically). I don't believe that all practices of all cultures should be respected. But, I do believe that they should be acknowledged. Ignorance promotes stagnancy.
We read about cases here in the US where primarily young/teenaged women leave newborns in public toilets, trash cans, etc.. Typically, they have kept their pregnancies hidden, like the girl in Turkey. "Boarder babies" was also a huge problem here in the US, with 23,000 newborns per year simply deserted at the hospital by primarily drug-addicted parents (NY Times). Some of the boarder baby and discarded infant problem was alleviated when states started enacting safe haven laws whereby parent(s) can drop off unwanted newborns at designated community havens without fear of prosecution; starting with Texas in 1999 and enacted by all 50 states by 2008.
And, up until July 2001, the US was allowing babies born after unsuccessful late abortion attempts to simply die; they were not given any medical attention because it was deemed that the mother's right not to have a child superceded the baby's right to humane care and life. I support the right to choose/abortion; I did not support the policy whereby living/functioning babies fully removed from their mothers were left to die, in the presence of the mother, clinic personnel, etc... and then discarded. Such was the problem that Federal Legislation was required to clarify that babies born under these circumstances and possessing hearbeats, breathing, and exhibiting voluntary muscle movement are to be considered as "Persons, Human Beings, Children, Individuals" and entitled to the same Constitutional rights as any child born within the United States. Federal legislation was actually required to make this clarification, only a decade ago, in the US (Born Alive Infant Protection act; BAIP - overwhelmingly supported by both Dems and Repubs).
China and Northern India still inhumanely promote female infanticide due to economic and cultural issues. It's creating new problems for China as the number of men greatly exceeds the number of women and single men are considered social outcasts in the country. South Korea is one Asian country that has successfully changed its culture and stopped the killing of baby girls through education and law; they formerly had the same inequity of males to females as China. Now, it's near normal, but it didn't start to happen until South Korea became economically prosperous. Some global humanitarian organizations are present in China, India and other countries where infanticide is practiced. While they are saving babies everyday through education and by offering adoption options, it's not enough.
Infanticide and the discarding of infants as a practice shouldn't be happening anywhere, period, FFS. Ideally, imo, birth control, early abortion, education, cultural realignment, infant protection laws, and adoption options should be aggressively propagated to prevent it. Realistically, it's very hard to penetrate centuries of cultural and religious beliefs. Unbelievably heart-breaking problem with no easy solution.