Current legislation fails to account for the realities faced by vulnerable women.
If you’re young, poor, black and pregnant, our law – as it currently stands – offers you a stark choice if you decide to keep the baby: you can either be a parent, or a criminal.
This is because, as experts from the Women’s Legal Centre point out, the Children’s Act criminalises “child abandonment” in sweeping terms, regardless of whether a child is left in circumstances that ensure their safety.
So, a woman who leaves her child outside formal, state-approved processes, risks prosecution and up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
There is no exception. No recognition of context.
The experts ask what happens to a young rural woman who cannot access contraception, abortion or adoption, but she still cannot keep a child due to circumstances or violence.
“By the time the child is born, she has nowhere to turn.”
They argue, with some reason we think, that a woman should be permitted to give her child a chance of a better life, even if that is outside the permitted options.
This is one of those issues where there are grey areas and nuances which are not catered for in the existing frameworks – and why those need to be looked at to make them more humane.
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