A Cry for help

On the afternoon of May 25， the muffled cries of an infant echoed from the sewage drain of a public toilet on the fourth floor of a residential building in Pujiang County， east China’s Zhejiang Province. Police officers and firefighters jointly extracted the 2.3-kg newborn covered in sores and swiftly sent him to a local hospital. But how did he end up in the sewer？ Who would abandon a baby boy in a toilet？ Police identified the baby’s mother as a 22-year-old woman with the pseudonym Xiaofei who lived in a nearby apartment， but she was initially reluctant to admit the boy was hers.

She was an unwed mother.

Having a baby out of wedlock remains a major social taboo in China and a source of shame for the birth mother’s family. It also raises a host of legal complications that bring undue stress to single mothers.

Xiaofei met the baby’s father through a friend last year， and after a short relationship， they broke up. Finding herself pregnant， she contacted the father， but he denied responsibility. She was all alone.

The day of the incident， Xiaofei reportedly felt pain and went to the toilet. Unexpectedly， the baby was born and slipped into the sewer. She ran to her landlady for help. And the landlady called the police.

Many people called the hospital， police and fire department offering milk powder to the baby or expressing wishes to adopt the baby. But when it came to who should take the responsibility for the baby’s injury， arguments broke out.

“The mother might be charged with child abandonment or child abuse，” said Cheng Xuelin， a lawyer with the Guosheng Law Firm in Zhejiang. “But judging from her statement， she tried to save the baby. She didn’t abandon the baby on purpose.”

Many people defended the young mother. They held that premarital pregnancy was not the sole responsibility of the woman. The man should also be in the picture.

The incident revealed some young people， especially those who left their rural hometown to work in cities， lacked knowledge of human sexuality and a sense of sexual responsibility， said Zhong Qi， an expert with the Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences.

The incident was eventually defined as an accident by investigators. Both parents of the mother and the father expressed their willingness to raise the baby， and the baby was taken home.

Difficult struggles

Qiao Min， an electronics saleswoman in Beijing， gave birth to her son Feifei on August 1， 2007. She too was unwed. Qiao met Feifei’s father in 2004 when she came to Beijing from southwest China’s Guizhou Province. After a three-year relationship， the two broke up.

Months later， she discovered she was pregnant， and sought out the father. To her despair， he was already married to another woman， who was also expecting their child.

Qiao considered abortion， but her doctor diagnosed her with a retroverted uterus and said she might not have another opportunity to be a mother. She kept the baby.

After she gave birth， she was all alone in the hospital， with neither parents nor husband around her. The feeling of solitude made her burst into tears， and she kept the newborn a secret from her parents for a year and a half.

Various surveys reveal that the number of unwed mothers in China is rising， and the mothers are getting younger. Most of them find it financially difficult to raise a child alone.

According to a recent study conducted by the Guangdong Family Planning Science and Technology Research Institute， 50 to 80 percent female workers who left their rural hometown to work in cities in Guangdong Province have had premarital sex. Of them， 50 to 60 percent experienced unwanted pregnancies.

After giving birth to Feifei， Qiao lost her job. With no income， her savings were soon used up. And she had to send her baby to a foster home in Tongzhou District， a suburb of Beijing， at 1，500 yuan （$245） a month. She then found a job with free food and free accommodation and her monthly salary was enough to pay the foster home. The days she received her salary were the only days she could see her baby. This lasted for a whole year until she was finally able to bring her baby home.

But the financial difficulty is nothing compared to societal and institutional discrimination. The first big problem facing an illegitimate child is household registration， a form of establishing residency in a particular jurisdiction. Feifei’s father’s household registration was in Beijing， and Feifei was born in Beijing， so Qiao hoped her son could be registered as a Beijing resident.

However， she was informed this was impossible for children born out of wedlock. In order to get a household registration in Beijing， she would have to provide a birth certificate and information about the genetic father. For “illegitimate” children， a paternity test was also needed. She went back to her hometown in Guizhou， but the local police authorities also refused to grant the child household registration， which is absolutely crucial for obtaining social welfare benefits.

Despite this， Qiao said that when she sees her son， she has no regrets. She also believes the problems she has with the child’s household registration will be solved in time.

Denying children of unwed mothers the same rights as other children is one way the government discriminates against unwed motherhood， said She Zongming， a media critic.

According to the Population and Family Planning Law， having children outside of marriage is illegal. Parents must pay a social compensation fee and meet other conditions to complete a child’s household registration.

In addition to the obstacles in the social systems， widespread discrimination adds insult to injury.

“Illegitimate births are faced with moral condemnation， especially those births resulting from extramarital sex. This is detrimental to childhood development，” said She， adding that women are both disproportionally blamed and burdened by the social problem. He warned that such an atmosphere would encourage child abandonment.

Seeking help

“In China， due to deep-rooted discrimination and family planning policies， unwed mothers have always escaped the attention of the mainstream，” said Yang Juhua， a professor of Renmin University of China’s Center for Population and Development Studies. “Policy making and academic circles pay little attention to illegitimate births. Now is the time to adequately examine unwed motherhood.”

Frustrated by harsh realities， many unwed mothers turned to cyberspace and established a number of online communities on instant messaging platforms and forums.

“Illegitimate births were regarded as a moral problem. Both the government and the public seemed reticent on touching this group，” said Wei Wei， founder of Little Bird， a non-government organization in Beijing.

Little Bird helps unwed mothers contact birth fathers and claim support. Wei said the group rarely succeeds in doing so.

“Such cases need help from the government，”said Wei. “A non-government organization cannot do everything， not to mention a single woman with a little child.”