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My tweet about the baby found in a porta potty at Main & Hastings resulted in a lot of media attention, most wanting to focus on the role #COVID19 played in this tragedy. I am compelled to add more, b/c women abandon babies at an alarming rate, relatively speaking & typically../2
not during a pandemic & rarely in the #DTES . Gender inequality & poverty play huge roles in why women abandon babies & the bigger picture is about reproductive rights, sex education & economic empowerment. More needs to be done to prevent an unwanted birth from happening in../3
the first place. Having access to safe abortions, & affordable/free contraception options is critical. Tackling violence against women & poverty, which creates conditions of infant abandonment is also critical. If we want to prevent child abandonment, we must give women../4
support at all points. In Canada, where we have a shameful history of snatching children from First Nations, Métis & Inuit mothers, we must provide women with the opportunity & support they need to raise the children they love in the best way they know how & with respect for../5
traditional ways of mothering. We must provide mothers who use with the support they need & creative options for raising their children. Child abandonment is the act of a woman w/o options. Giving her as many options as possible & empowering her to make informed choices about../6
her own life is the best way to ensure it stops. #COVID19 is not the reason this infant was abandoned & if we don’t examine the bigger picture, invest resources, address systemic oppression & make drastic policy changes, these tragedies will contiue. @jjhorgan @MitziDeanBC ../7
