Govt clinics not helping to curb unwanted pregnancies

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: The reluctance of government clinics to give contraceptives to unmarried adults is one of the reasons for the rising number of abandoned babies and abortions.
A Universiti Putra Malaysia lecturer said Malaysians could no longer hide behind Asian values as the number of sexually-active adults was increasing.
"If we don’t provide contraceptives (at government clinics), where are young people going to go? We cannot keep on saying we are Asians and have good morals. We have to get real or the poor and uneducated will suffer," said Assoc Prof Dr Mary Huang Soo-Lee of UPM’s Medical and Health Sciences Faculty.
Dr Huang said contraceptives should be made available to those who were sexually active, regardless of their marital status.
While the answer lies in policy changes, Dr Huang refrained from making recommendations.
"It took us many years to get real with harm reduction (a programme to control the spread of HIV among drug users) but we are there and I am glad.
"We used to say it is a moral question while the numbers are escalating," said Dr Huang, referring to the increasing number of people contracting HIV each year.
She said in Holland, for example, abortion had been legalised and sex education was introduced in schools. As a result, the country had the lowest number of unwanted pregnancies, people with HIV/AIDS and abortions.
While it is unclear just how many single people are sexually active and using contraceptives, a study by the National Population and Family Development Board in 2004 showed that the figures were appalling even among married women.
The findings, released earlier this year, show that slightly more than 50 per cent of married women used contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies — lower than many countries in the region.
In Vietnam, 78 per cent of married women who do not want children use contraceptives. In Thailand, the figure is 71 per cent and in Indonesia it is 58 per cent.
The study, however, does not include sexually-active single women.
Malaysia’s statistics had remained constant in the past 20 years, said Dr Huang, who is the honorary general-secretary of the Federation of Family Planning Associations.
"Married women who do not want children still shy away from contraceptives, which leads to a further increase in the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
"We are most concerned about the 12.5 per cent of women who say that their husbands object to contraceptives," she said.
Ignoring the use of contraceptives, even among married couples, has also led to an increase in HIV/AIDS cases.
The study by the National Population and Family Development Board also found that 26.8 per cent refused contraceptives because they were worried about the side-effects.
The biggest challenge, Dr Huang said, was the access to contraceptives for women.
"Accessibility and availability are two different things. Condoms, for example, are widely available at 7-Eleven stores but those who need it are probably not the ones buying it — either because they cannot afford it or they just don’t want to."
She said studies showed that women had to ask their husbands for permission to use contraceptives.
Educated women were able to negotiate better, she said, though the majority of those who needed contraceptives were the less educated and those in lower income groups, the study showed.
The study also found that 26 per cent of married Malay women who did not want children did not use contraceptives, while for Chinese women, it was 22.9 per cent and for Indian women, it was 26.6 per cent.
"Nearly one quarter of married women who are not interested in having children are not doing anything to stop themselves from becoming pregnant," said Dr Huang.
The study showed that older women stopped using contraceptives because they thought they were less fertile.