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.