Who Sees the Mother!

As May came to an end and we celebrated mothers, I could not help but reflect on a story that made headlines in every newspaper – the lady who allegedly dumped her twins in a riverbed.

Newspapers are replete with headlines about babies being abandoned in a riverbed, dumped in a pit latrine, left in a plastic bag or discovered behind a building.

Society often reacts with outrage before compassion. Citing, “How could a mother do this?” But perhaps the more difficult question that no one bothers to ask is, what happened to that mother before she reached that moment of desperation?

Baby dumping is not simply a criminal issue. It is a social, economic, mental health and human dignity crisis. It is a mirror reflecting how societies treat vulnerable women, especially poor women, young women, survivors of abuse and mothers facing overwhelming emotional distress.

The uncomfortable truth is that baby abandonment happens in both developing and developed countries. However, the difference lies in how societies respond. Some countries punish desperate mothers. Others build systems that prevent desperation from turning into tragedy.