What if your teen becomes a mum?
A giggly schoolgirl of only 14, who should be hanging out with peers doing carefree stuff like shopping, sleepovers and makeovers—should NOT have to bear the ordeal of giving birth to a stillborn. But this was exactly what happened to a 14-year-old girl in Malaysia. Believe it or not, it was not her first experience, at this tender age.
4 abortions at 14
The teenage girl, who still lives with her parents in a shophouse at Pulau Meranti, admitted to having not one, but four abortions. Which makes you wonder, where she went to get those complicated procedures done. How did she get the money? What were her “extra-curricular activities” like?
Her parents found her looking pale and weak one evening. Then they were astonished and alarmed to find their child bleeding profusely. They actually informed a close relative who then lodged a police report.
Upon arrival and inspection, the police found a stillborn baby in a yellow plastic bag, stashed away in the girl’s bedroom. After some questioning, the girl admitted to giving birth to the baby and then to have had four previous pregnancies prior to this one.
How could the parents not have noticed their little girl getting pregnant, not once, but four times? When did she start having sex to have had four abortions already?
Supt. Imran Abdul Rahman, Sepang OCPD, confirmed that police are investigating this case.
Abortion laws
Like every other country, Singapore has laid down some ground rules too, when it comes to abortion. Here, it is legal to have an abortion on socio-medical grounds. The law states that there is no defined age limit and no legal requirement for parental consent for minors to get the abortion procedure done. However, abortion is prohibited after 24 weeks (6 months) of pregnancy, unless the mother’s life is in danger.
The Singapore Abortion Act also states that girls under 16 years of age have to go through a mandatory counselling session at the Health Promotion Board Counselling Centre. After the session, they will be issued a Certificate of Attendance (COA) – without the cert, abortion will not be legally permissible. A 48-hour waiting period after counselling is mandatory before the procedure can be carried out. Just so that reflection can be done—the worst thing is to regret after having a life taken out of you. There is no turning the clock back.
How well do you know your child?
We parents think that we know all there is to know about our children. What could our kids be hiding from us? Apparently, judging from the case above, the teen concealed a baby bump – and quite successfully for four times.
Talk to your kids about sex; educate them. It is better for them to know than to live in the dark. Or they might be driven to do some exploration of their own due to a healthy curiosity about sex—after all, it is a natural force of nature, it is innate.
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For more related articles on teens and pregnancy, see:
Teenage Pregnancy in Singapore
Mum delighted over her teen’s pregnancy