woman kills newborn baby

Agreed. This is desperately needed in China, where little baby girls are mercilessly left by the side of the road to die in the cold becuase of their one baby policy.

Nice post Mrs. M.

Comment by Ahmed

June 5th 2007 05:10

Actually the one baby policy is simply urban legend, a Chinese exchange student said it was next to non existant and the worst thing they could do is hit you with a small fine.

In some countries they have 'baby drop off points', where you can place your baby anonymously and legally without fear of prosecution. In some countries it's legal to leave a baby in front of a fire deparment amongst some other places as safe drop off points. I think they opened up a 'baby chute' in hospitals in Germany where you can drop your baby through there if you don't want him/her.

In the end this doesn't solve the actual problem, it's just a cure to something that shouldn't occur in the first place.

Comment by yoda76

June 5th 2007 05:35

Actually the one baby policy is simply urban legend, a Chinese exchange student said it was next to non existant and the worst thing they could do is hit you with a small fine.

Policy or not, girls are still left out to die - I'm sure there would be little contention to that.

In the end this doesn't solve the actual problem, it's just a cure to something that shouldn't occur in the first place.

It can't be a cure if it doesn't solve the problem, Ahmed. But you are right, it's alleviating a symptom of a much bigger problem - but look at it this way: Human Life is sacred, and deserves to be cared for. Saying "It shouldn't hav happened in the first place" doesn't help the poor abandoned children.

Comment by Ahmed

June 5th 2007 05:46

Well I'm not sure if they leave girls out to die, if they do it probably is purely cultural, not legislative. Something that goes on in the rural areas of china.

I guess we can look at it more as a pain killer then? The only way you can solve tehse problems is if you look at them in their entire contexts, at the end ofthe day I suppose a condom could have saved a heck of a lot of troubles.

Comment by yoda76

June 5th 2007 06:58

coolgirlsar to the rescue
One Too Many Chocolate Bars

I guess we can look at it more as a pain killer then? The only way you can solve tehse problems is if you look at them in their entire contexts.

Absolutely.

at the end of the day I suppose a condom could have saved a heck of a lot of troubles.

In a perfect world, yes.

In the real world, you need to work from both ends and meet in the middle - encouraging the use of birth control won't stop the disposal or abandonment of children that have already been conceived, and helping those children doesn't stop unwanted pregnancies.

Take a two-pronged attack at both ends, and you'll be on your way to a solution.

Comment by Sarah White

June 5th 2007 12:27

It's sad to hear stories like this and to think that there are so many people in the world crying out to be able to have children and they can't and some of those that do just abuse that wonderful privelege. Society/cultures etc need to evolve more in the way that children and birth is seen. Yoda is right in saying that

Human Life is sacred, and deserves to be cared for

,it does, it's the most precious thing there is.

Comment by Mrs M

June 5th 2007 13:33

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Hi Kleonaptra,

I can't imagine what it must feel like to be so desperate to do something so drastic. I can't imagine that parents give up children easily. Like I said, they must feel desperate.

I just don't see why the baby should pay the ultimate price.

Hi Ahmed, yoda,

China did have a one child policy to curb the rising population and girls were mostly abandoned because culturally boys are seen as 'better'. Yes it is worse in rural China.

The one child policy has been relaxed but the people in China are used to having so few children about that they actually prefer it.

However....no matter what country, no matter what reason there will always be unwanted pregnancies and scared parents not knowing what to do.

Maybe the parents fears are real or maybe it is just a misunderstanding. Isn't it better to give the baby to people who can care for it just to get some perspective or distance or something. Even one day could mean the difference between a parent and child bonding together or a desperate 18 year old girl throwing her baby away because she was overwhelmed.

Giving birth is a mind blowing experience....even the most emotionally and mentally stable mother will go through a rollercoaster of emotions in the days following a birth.

Baby chutes in hospitals may not be the 'answer' but I don't think it worsens the problem.

Hi Sarah,

Society/cultures etc need to evolve more in the way that children and birth is seen

Absolutely...all cultures, all countries.

Thanks everyone for the visit and the comments.

Love & stuff
Mrs M

Comment by charliesgirl_992000

June 5th 2007 17:01

i Live in Pennsylvania and we have that thing where a baby can be dropped off at the hospital, no questions asked. i think it's a good thing and is saving babies lives. still youg moms are killing there babies, because i'm guessing they have no idea about this. so more advertisement would be a GREAT thing. i've only seen taht you can do this, on the news AFTER a baby is killed. why do they just wait until then, to announce it??
i don't realy believe they should for sure be able to go back latter and be reunited. maybe so, if it's a couple days. but if a baby is adopted or setteled into a home wanting to adopt, i think it's too late then.
Tammy

Comment by Mrs M

June 6th 2007 01:24

Hi Tammy,

More information definitely.

The other thing that gets me is if these women, presumably, haven't received any antenatal care then they wouldn't know what to expect during labour, how to deliver a baby, even how to deliver the placenta because a retained placenta can be a very dangerous thing to the mother's health. So yes, more information definitely.

As for parents being reunited with their babies I can't remember which country (Germany or Japan) from the reading I did but one of them has a limit of up to 14 days for parents to reclaim the baby otherwise yes, the baby is given to foster parents and then eventually adopted.

Thanks for the visit and comment Tammy.

Love & stuff
Mrs M

Comment by Kleonaptra

June 6th 2007 02:07

Kalikapsychosis

Im surprised with all this talk of China no one has mentioned the bigger problem there now - All these families that have killed off their girl children in favour of boys, imagining him growing up to marry some lovely girl.....Guess what, there are none! The male poplulation has skyrocketed and there are simply not enought woman.
Has anyone seen 'realdolls.com' ?

Comment by Ahmed

June 6th 2007 02:10

eh? 'realdolls.com'? Thats a porn site XD

Got the wrong link there?

Comment by Ahmed

June 6th 2007 02:14

ah, you mean realdoll.com. umm, whats your point? They don't make babies XD

in regards to dumping girls, you have to look at it from their perspective, I very much doubt they ever wanted to do what they did but given boys are in fact better (yes better) because they can do heavy work when they grow up means they are favoured.

If you have a large family that needs to be fed a woman is just another member that will need to be fed. True she has her abilities but at the end of the day more men are needed than women to make ends meet.

Also, with the heavy industrialization of china I think they aren't having to deal with these issues very much, it is going to eventually become a complete relic of the past since RC_family_planning_don%27t_abandon_girls.jpg" target="_blank">steps are being taken to sway the population.

Comment by Kleonaptra

June 6th 2007 02:45

Kalikapsychosis

Oh Ahmed,
I was just pointing out what they have to turn to with the lack of actual females.
Popluation wont be a problem soon

Comment by Ahmed

June 6th 2007 02:52

heh, I believe Real Dolls sell best in Japan, not China

Comment by Mrs M

June 6th 2007 03:57

Hi Kleonaptra, Ahmed,

K, you are absolutely right about a population imbalance. I wrote a post about infanticide titled This Just Has To Stop

Dowry is a big issue when it comes to marrying off a daughter and those in rural areas just don't have the money or means to give their daughter a dowry that would attract a husband. That's another reason they kill baby girls.

Ahmed, the link doesn't work.

Love & stuff
Mrs M

Comment by Ahmed

June 6th 2007 04:21

The link doesn't work because I'm an idiot.

Also dowry? I thought the husband had to give dowry to the wife, what a twist on the whole culture thing.

The link doesn't work because I'm an idiot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image

RC_family_planning_don%27t_abandon_girls.jpg

try that.

Comment by yoda76

June 6th 2007 04:27

Nope, Ahmed. Still busted.

Comment by Ahmed

June 6th 2007 04:48

bleh, it put a

where it shouldn't have.

ok, I'll do this html style:

CLICK HERE

Comment by yoda76

June 6th 2007 04:57

it is going to eventually become a complete relic of the past since steps are being taken...

Wow, Ahmed. I reckon you're so far off the mark here...

First of all, the government not sanctioning it will not stop it from happening. It will be a very very very long time before we get to "a thing of the past" territory - especially in China, which is so big on tradition.

Australia was built on multiculturalism, and used to pride itself on some degree of racial tolerance. It seems to me as every day passes, we become LESS tolerant, not more... The government doesn't OFFICIALLY sanction racism either, that hasn't stopped it spreading rather than dying out completely.

My two cents.

Great photo, BTW

Comment by Ahmed

June 6th 2007 05:02

From The Home Front
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Esoteric Bookshop

The difference in your comparison is that the government in China is actively against it and is advertising against it.

In Australia the government by and large passively encourages intolerance by claiming mass hysteria based on little to no evidence.

China is headed in the right direction because not only is the government so obviously against what is happenign but so will the people learn. Also people in China are getting more and more wealthy, culture or not if you're going to kill your first born baby girl then you are probably doing it more out of desperation than to fit in with other people.

Comment by Lilla

June 7th 2007 00:00

Mrs M,

ABSOLUTELY agree!

It's obvious that someone who drops her baby down the chute, is not in her right mind... probably desperate...

How many will later regret their decision?

Having a place to 'drop them' safely and even be reunitied... splendid and I applaud these countries for their innovation and compassion...while the rest of the world is still debating...lives still hanging in the balance...

Government dollars well spent... something I couldn't see this government here in Oz doing, could you? (To their shame)...

Great Post Mrs M...
Sorry it took me so long to get here, but I had to drop my little one off to hospital too...

Lilla ...

Comment by Mrs M

June 7th 2007 03:09

Hi Ahmed,

Nope dowry is given to the husband from the wife. Here's my understanding of it. Dowry is a very traditional thing right....so when a man marries a woman his agrees to take care of her, he takes her into his family. In return the woman needs to bring something into the marriage, a dowry. Because in traditional times women aren't worth very much, they're not much use other than cooking and cleaning.

In India the whole dowry thing is rife. So much so that a husband still demands dowry payment from the wife's family after he has married her. If the wife's family doesn't cough up it has been known for husband's to burn their wives and then return her to her family because she's damaged. The husband is then free to marry someone else. The wife then stays with her parents because no-one wants to marry a scarred woman.

Governments may not be advocating infanticide, especially of little girls, but when a government imposes a ban on having more than one child there is going to be a follow on affect.

But the 18 year old woman I mentioned in my post is in the US and her issues are different. She hid her pregnancy from her parents and her boyfriend.

Hi Lilla,

Hope you're little one is okay. It's sad and scary when you hear about children having to go to hospital.

But thank you for your comment.

How many will later regret their decision. I'd imagine plenty. And not because they're in jail.

As for it happening here in Oz, not as long as Johnny is PM and Tony Abbott is Health Minister. I've heard the pregnancy helpline has an agenda...to not advocate abortion. If the pregnant woman decides she wants an abortion they don't actually give her any information on how to go about it.

Are you sure you don't want to go into politics Lilla. We need more women.

Love & stuff
Mrs M

Comment by Ahmed

June 7th 2007 03:12

Wow, I know of cultures where the husband has to take care of the wife and pay dowry to the family and pay dowry to the wife directly, I never knew it could work the other way. Thats just cheating.

Comment by Mrs M

June 7th 2007 04:26

take care of the wife and pay dowry to the family and pay dowry to the wife directly

That sounds like my kind of culture

Comment by Miswanderlust

June 7th 2007 23:33

Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy

Mrs. M
I work with many women who have post partum depression and report that during this time they "are out of their minds." On a cognitive level, they know what is happening is illogical but it is as if "something dark" has taken over them.... It is very sad
Mis

Comment by Mrs M

June 8th 2007 01:08