Today, 1st of June, is celebrated as International Children’s Day. Proclaimed by the UN World Conference in Geneva in 1925, it was first celebrated in 1950. http://www.dates.abouttravelingtheworld.com/special-holidays/international-childrens-day/

When a child is wanted by the parents, it is indeed a joy but what about those millions of women and girls across the world who find themselves pregnant as a result of rape, failed contraception or some condition which makes it impossible for them to have the child or raise it ?

Across Asia, thousands of women seek to terminate and unwanted pregnancy every day. When they are unable to access safe abortion, they put their health and even life at risk by using unsafe methods.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wouIaen2J8

If women are forced to continue an unwanted pregnancy, the consequences are serious for both the mother and the child and can range from psychological to life threatening issues. http://www.medicaldaily.com/postpartum-depression-higher-unwanted-pregnancies-study-finds-245630

Baby dumping is a known phenomenon in Malaysia http://poskod.my/features/beyond-the-baby-hatch/ and connected to the stigma women face when seeking a safe abortion.

Infanticide is on the rise in Pakistan, due to lack of access to contraception, poverty and the unwanted girl child. http://www.browngirlmagazine.com/2014/02/real-reason-female-infanticide-rise-pakistan/

A girl child in India also faces infanticide, abandonment as well as neglect and abuse. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/05/trash-bin-babies-indias-female-infanticide-crisis/257672/

This grim tale from Bangladesh repeats the same situation: “On Friday, a young woman came to the gate. She appeared to be no more than 16 years old. Her feet were bare and her sari was torn and very dirty. She handed an equally tattered bundle to the social worker and said, “Take this child. I can’t manage her any more. She will die if you don’t take her.” (Field journal, Centre for the Training and Rehabilitation of Destitute Women, Bangladesh 1992) https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-58381576/take-this-child-why-women-abandon-their-infants

Abandonment of children, child labour, trafficking, slavery are the many ugly faces of the life of an unwanted child. These children grow up troubled and further perpetuate the cycle of abuse and neglect.

Parenting is a difficult task and raising a child really does need a village. A woman who is pregnant and unable to give birth to or cannot raise a child, should always be offered an option to safely terminate the pregnancy. It is woman’s right to decide what to do with her body and her life.

On this International Children’s Day, let us work for a future where every child is a wanted one !