ORPHANCARE BABY HATCH

Last year, I saw and blogged about a news clip regarding newlyweds who got married and had to go to jail, read it here so you will understand why I am all for the OrphanCARE baby hatch that was just featured in the news a couple of days ago.

The picture of the baby boy who was the first to be placed in the baby hatch was simply beautiful. It was no surprise that in a day or two later, calls were coming in on wishes to adopt the newborn and give it a good home. Best piece of info so far was the fact that the parents were not sure if they want to let the baby get adopted yet. They asked for two weeks to think about it. I think that that is a good sign because at least for this baby, he knows that he is wanted by the people who brought him into this world.

There are many who express hatred and disgust of the centre because of the message they think it supposedly carry. From what I know, OrphanCARE is there to just provide new parents who didn't plan to be parents in the first place an alternate option for their newborn. And the fact that they need not be pushed to a corner and leave the newborn to die.

Reading some of the blogs out there who are of the opinion that the baby hatch is a horrible idea, they think that having a baby hatch would make people be careless about sex, thoughtless about premarital intercourse and think that well, someone's gonna take care of the baby anyways, that's my safety net to go get laid, get pregnant and endure childbirth, right? Well, news for you. They have been doing it before the baby hatch was around. No reason why they should stop just because the centre was set up, and even less of a reason to blame the baby hatch for trying to do what the parents couldn't.

Besides, this kind of logic reasoning can be likened with the idea that knives, pesticide and gas stoves should not be created because it would 'encourage' people to commit suicide. Why? Well, there were people who used those items/ways to kill themselves before, hence the logic fits.

I wouldn't say they are wrong. They must be educated people to be able to blog about it.

But where possible I would like to remind them, that the baby hatch is just about the only thing that is keeping these unwanted and unplanned babies alive. It beats being left in public toilets, or in a black garbage bag at the side of the road, which was the original ways they were 'handled' by clueless teenagers who did one mistake and is making the newborn pay for their mistake.

The law is no help in these cases and one night's 'mistake' will come out full blown 10 months later; there is no hiding. Society at large also frown upon babies being born out of wedlock, at least our society is still holding on to this 'noble' notion. With nowhere to turn to, these kids/young adults have only one option, to get rid of the only proof of their wrongdoing.


With the only baby hatch in Malaysia, at least these newbie parents have a choice of giving the babies a second chance in life; maybe these kids may even be better off with their adoptive parents who really really want to have kids but did not have the natural privilege to have their own. At least, these babies will have a fighting chance against the norms of society, who preferred that they disappear into the background in the name of moral standings and a unsoiled reputation.