Unwed mothers need help, too
From Frances Ess
04:46 AM Aug 15, 2012
Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew expressed concerns, in "'Enormous' problems if S'poreans don't procreate: LKY" (Aug 11, online), over Singapore's low fertility rate.
Perhaps it is time to consider a mindset change: That every unborn life is precious and that unwed mothers should get more help and support than they do now.
They do not have a spouse to form a family unit to get a new public flat. The Marriage and Parenthood Package is an incentive for married couples and the Baby Bonus is not extended to single, unwed mothers.
Many of them would consider abortion a more viable alternative, and it has been reported that a large number of cases do involve unwed women.
After years of declining birth rates, perhaps Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, who will be taking a fresh look at our policies and engaging Singaporeans in a "national conversation" on this, could consider slaughtering the attitudes towards unwed mothers.
I do not, myself, condone premarital sex. I still believe that the best way to bring up children is within a family, anchored by a loving relationship between a husband and wife. But the child of an unwed woman is innocent.
Would my proposal cause more teenagers and women to be promiscuous? I have not come across any woman who considers unfriendly attitudes towards unwed mothers as an effective contraceptive. That is because women who choose to have sex, do so regardless of society.
However, I believe the birth rate would increase if we accept each unborn child as precious and deserving of a chance to live. Or is it that all unborn children are equal but some are more equal than others?
Our birth rate trend is now a national crisis. We do not have the luxury to demand that all children must be born within a conventional family structure.