The Terengganu state assembly’s move to outlaw pregnancy or giving birth out of wedlock has caused great apprehension from the Malaysian Paediatric Association (MPA), which said the new amendment does not address the root cause of the issue.
MPA raised concerns that resorting to such punitive measures will discourage young mothers out of wedlock to seek help, and instead, they may attempt to get rid of the babies using unsafe methods.
“This act of criminalisation of pregnant unmarried women fails to grasp the bigger picture of this social ill, which will adversely impact these women and their unborn children,” said the MPA executive committee in a statement today.
They said those pregnant out of wedlock are often teenagers and that these incidents are a consequence of multiple factors.
Youths resort to unreliable sources of information on sex, such as pornography and friends, due to the lack of a comprehensive life and reproductive education programme, they said.
Quoting a survey, they said among the 13 to 17-year-olds surveyed, 7.3 percent are already sexually active, while 35 percent of teenage girls believe they cannot get pregnant the first time they have sex.
This has led to an alarming rate of babies being dumped in unsafe places and endangering their lives, the MPA said.
Though the police have reported an average of 100 cases of baby dumping per year, MPA said a large proportion of the unwanted babies may have been disposed of and went undetected, given up for adoption privately, or underwent dangerous illegal abortions.
“Unwanted pregnancies and child abandonment are real problems in Malaysia. The couple, boy and girl, may have made a ‘mistake’ but the child is absolutely innocent.
“He or she did not choose to be an unwanted child and should not be penalised by being abandoned and left to die. The higher objectives of the Syariah amendment should be to protect their right to life, preservation of their intellect and progeny,” MPA said.
Additionally, they noted that the new amendment does not seem to deal with boys, allowing them to get off scot-free.
As such, the MPA urged the authorities to provide a comprehensive “life and reproductive education” programme to all adolescents, as research has shown this decreases high-risk sexual behaviour and increases the age when a person becomes sexually active.
The authorities should also hold awareness campaigns on the harmful impact of teen pregnancy as well as provide non-judgmental services and support for the girls and their partners regardless of their backgrounds or marital status.
They should also provide information and access to effective and safe contraceptive services and prevent dropouts from school which has been proven to reduce high-risk behaviours among teenagers.
MPA also noted that it is yet unclear whether rape victims or healthcare professionals providing antenatal care to these unmarried pregnant women and girls would be exempted from the new provisions.
On Thursday, the Terengganu state legislative assembly passed an amendment to the Syariah Criminal Offences (Punishments) Enactment 2022 to strengthen the implementation of Syariah law in the state, which includes the addition of four new sections, among others.
The four new sections include offences for Section 3A (witchcraft and black magic), 29A (pregnancy or giving birth out of wedlock), 33A (women acting as men) and 36A (in preparation of sodomy)(persediaan melakukan liwat).
Under Section 29A, it states that Muslim women found guilty of out-of-wedlock pregnancy and childbirth will be liable for a fine not exceeding RM3,000, imprisonment up to two years, or both. - Mkini
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