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Unwanted Babies: The Product Of Cultures, Religions And Personal Belief

Abstract: The basis of this project was to discover how certain sociological factors impact

unwanted babies, as since the dawn of time, thousands of babies are abandoned all over the

whole. The goal is to show that enough is not being done to tackle or prevent this problem. This

has been done by examining the phenomenon during different epoch and cultures.

The more things change the more they remain the samea quotation from Jean-

Baptiste Alphonse Karrseems to hit the proverbial nail on the head of the unwanted

babies issue. Even though mankind have adopted, adapted and evolved; there are some

issues which have persisted and have continued into the new millennium. The problem

of unwanted babies is one such issue. The causes and effects of unplanned

pregnancies and the resultant unwanted babies have been around from the beginning

of time. The most common ways of dealing with an unwanted baby is abortion and

abandonment. These methods are not viable options of addressing the problem.

Though the world has advanced into the twenty first century the problem of dealing with

the results of unplanned pregnancies remain.The problem persists because the causes

have not been adequately addressed by individuals, the Churches, civil society and

Governments. The variations in cultures, religions and personal belief continue to make

unwanted babies persist into the 21st Century.

The problem with unwanted babies is not a new phenomenon but one which has

been around for centuries. The occurrence of unwanted babies can be seen

throughout history. Moses, the Hebrew prophet was left in a reed basket in the bushes

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by his mother; in ancient Greece babies were left on mountainsides. During the Roman

era unwanted babies would be exhibited in public in the hopes that they may be

claimed. The problem of unwanted babies has continued throughout the ages.

Throughout the middle ages the bodies of unwanted babies were frequently seen

floating in rivers. In France during the late 1800s to mid 1900s, there were so many

unwanted babies that hospitals had to be set up where the babies could be abandoned.

According to Harrington (2009), child abandonment was one of the major social

distortions of early modern Europe. Boswell (1989) postulates that children were

abandoned throughout Europe from Hellenistic antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages

in great numbers, by parents of every social standing, in a great variety of

circumstances.Unfortunately this has continued even into the twenty first century, and

annually there are numerous stories about babies being abandoned in the media

worldwide1

1Foundling Wheel' Collects Unwanted Babies ABC NEWS By MALAIKA BOVA Feb. 26, 2007

She was only four hours old when she was abandoned on a truck; her umbilical cord still hanging out. "At five in the morning, twopolicemen brought Rachele to the hospital," remembers Dr. Piermichele Paolillo, head of the neonatology department of CasilinoHospital in Rome. "I knew Rachele would be fine, but I couldn't stop thinking that if it had been winter and if she hadn't been foundon time, she would have died."