Move to protect mothers and babies

Safe and sound: A staff member of the OrphanCare Foundation in Petaling Jaya demonstrating how the baby hatch works.

PETALING JAYA: The Women, Family and Community Develop­ment Ministry will work with the relevant bodies implementing the syariah law to ensure that the welfare of mothers and babies are protected, said its minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim.

She said syariah law is enshrined in List II of the Federal Constitution, and sexual intercourse and pregnancy out of wedlock are immoral and prohibited.

“The implementation of provisions in syariah law does not fall under the purview of the ministry, but we are ready to protect both mothers and babies with available services such as counselling, care and protection,” she said in an e-mail reply to The Star.

Rohani said a study by the Health Ministry and the National Popu­lation and Family Development Board (LPPKN) in 2010 involving 22,810 adolescents aged 18 to 24 nationwide found that 6.5% of teens admitted to having pre-marital sex for the first time at 16.

The study also showed that adolescents aged 20 to 24 who engaged in risky behaviour, such as substance abuse, torture (emotional, physical or sexual) and anti-social behaviour, were more likely to have sex, she said.

In November, LPPKN director-general Datuk Dr Siti Norlasiah Ismail said an average of 18,000 pregnancies out of wedlock were recorded every year since 2011.

Rohani said the findings indica­ted that children needed education on sexual and reproductive health.

OrphanCare Foundation trustee Datin Elya Lim Abdullah said punitive syariah law could be one of the reasons that could have led to women giving up or dumping their babies but doubted it was the main reason.

“Most who came here, regardless of religion, gave up their babies because the men had run away and they did not know what to do with the babies,” she said.