Eight days later, seventeen years old Belgrader M.K. gave birth on her own, at home and immediately threw her son on a nearby garbage heap. The boy was lucky to be found two hours later and taken to a hospital. The mother repented later, but is still not sure whether she wants her baby back. On July 15, in Bosilegrad, forty four years old Borka Toseva drowned her unwanted baby in a bucket immediately after giving birth. That same day, the trial of Tanja Peric from Batusinci near Nis began. Between March 3 and 13 1997, this twenty years old woman poisoned her two daughters with insecticide. The older girl was aged two while the younger one was aged four months.
All concerned, including police, agree that there been more similar cases during the last six months than during the previous several years. Some mothers abandon their children immediately after giving birth but do not try to kill them. In the Center for Abandoned and Orphaned Children in Zvecanska street in Belgrade, where the "foundlings" from all over Yugoslavia are sent, they confirm that the number of similar cases is increasing.
Simply by skimming through the press (this is also confirmed by the experts) one can conclude that the mothers with unwanted children are usually teenagers of women who have just reached early adulthood.
What is the root cause of this problem?
TABOO: "Sixteenth year is the crucial one; that's when most girls become sexually active," says Dr. Svetlana Cvijanovic, who has been in charge of the Adolescent Gynecology Help Desk at the Health Center "Savski Venac". Most of them start out of curiosity, or in order not to fall back behind their friends. However, in our society, sex, especially at such an early age, is still a taboo topic; consequently no one finds it necessary to inform adolescents about the consequences of sexual activity. "Most of girls, even those who are about to graduate from high school, have never seen a gynecologist because that is considered a conclusive proof that someone is sexually active," continues Dr. Cvijanovic; she considers visits to schools a more important part of her job than sitting in her practice. "The little they know about sex consists of half truths which usually come from the daily press or friends".
This sexual education program is only conducted in high schools, although Dr. Cvijanovic believes that by then it is too late. Also, school directors usually show little understanding and consider such an addition to education unnecessary. Consequently, all depends on the good will of teachers who allow Dr. Cvijanovic to use a part of their classes for sexual education lessons. "Because of an increase in all sorts of social problems in the recent years, social work centers simply do not have time for preventive programs. Besides, schools are not obliged to cooperate with us; consequently everything, as in all other activities in this country, is based on personal initiative," says Vesna Tosic, lawyer in the City Center for Social Work.
What about school physicians? At a meeting in the Institute for Mother and Child the activists from the Association for the Fight Against AIDS demonstrated to the gathered pediatricians and gynecologists how they explain a proper way to use condoms. They simply unpacked a condom and pulled it onto a banana. The present pediatricians were shocked, and the older ones almost fainted. All together, it doesn't occur to them to deal with sexual education. Besides, they are not obliged to do so.
Parents are also usually not very helpful; most of them do not even notice that their girl has grown. Sex is still a taboo topic within a family. Those parents who try to broach the subject of sex, usually have a hard time and rarely finish such conversations.
In spite of everything, the young are not totally uninformed about contraceptives. The most frequently recommended contraceptive is condom. A problem, however, is the widespread opinion that the use of condom somehow reduces satisfaction; consequently, many avoid to use condoms. The rhyhm method (abstinence during fertile days of the menstrual cycle) is hardly possible for young women whose menstrual cycle is still irregular. Unlike in Sweden, where after the third menstrual cycle girls are given birth control pills, in Yugoslavia doctors avoid prescribing these birth control medications. Their use requires discipline, which most of young women lack.
All these problems and misunderstandings usually result in a pregnancy. And that problem can relatively easily be taken care of with an abortion. Women aged above 16 do not need parent's permission for an abortion, while younger girls must obtain parent's permission. Dr. Cvijanovic's patients usually get around that by bringing their mother along to a gynecologist while lying about the reason for the visit. Mothers usually have a hard time accepting the news, often refuse to believe, and as a rule in the end the first words are: "How are we going to explain this to the father?!" Finally all of them accept the fate, and the abortion is performed. Unfortunately, a good portion of young women, in accordance with the widespread view in our society, use abortion as means for birth control, which it definitively isn't; the repetition of this operation can result in permanent infertility and other medical problems. Maybe the most drastic example is that of a fourteen years old girl who has already had three abortions. "Even older women do not understand the danger of such behavior; abortion clinics are full of middle aged women who are waiting for an umpteenth abortion," says Dr. Cvijanovic. In all this usually the main concern is to hide the news from the father of the family, because he usually has more important problems.
LAW: According to Yugoslav laws, abortion is allowed up to the ninth week of pregnancy. Frequently, young women with irregular menstrual cycles do not become aware that they are pregnant until it is too late for a legal abortion. Some of them seek solution in illegal abortions. "Consequently, there are more and more children with permanent damage [which is the result of unsuccessful illegal abortions] in Zvecanska street," says Vesna Tekic, psychologist in the City Center for Social Work. Some of the girls, lacking other way out, finally tell their parents. ("It is almost unbelievable, but some girls succeed to hide their pregnancy from the parents all the way to the birth," says Vesna Tosic. The above mentioned M.K. did exactly that and even managed to give birth without her parents knowledge.)
That usually results in the search for the father, especially in rural areas, and pressure on him to marry the mother. The family of the unwilling groom, with which the newlyweds are usually forced to live [lacking other accommodation], sometimes gives a new bride such a reception which can push weaker women over the edge. "Everyone tried to make me believe I was crazy," Tanja Peric who had lived in one of such shotgun marriages, stated at her trial. "It serves them well".
CRUEL REJECTION: The other frequent reaction at the news that an unplanned baby is due to arrive is a cruel rejection of the future mother; some women are literally thrown out on the street. The unfortunate women which end up on the street, usually remain homeless waiting to get rid of the "cause" of their misfortune. Unwanted babies are deserted in hallways (recently a baby girl was found in a building on the Revolution Boulevard), in hospitals (at the beginning of this year, the press intensively exploited the case of a woman who entered a hospital with a stolen national health service documents; the woman from whom the documents had been stolen had a lot of problems trying to prove that the deserted baby was not hers), or, in worst cases, the baby is simply thrown in garbage. "Post-birth psychosis can influence such behavior, especially in women who live at the edge of poverty," says Vesna Tekic. Most of these women are never identified, unless they later turn themselves in. "They rarely contact social work centers, not knowing that they can stay anonymous in such cases," says Ljubomir Pejakovic, director of the City Center for Social Work. Of course, if a mother in trouble decides to contact a social worker, the worker is obliged to contact her family and try to convince them to take their daughter back.
"It is usually very hard to convince a mother to reveal the identity of the likely father," says Vesna Tekic. "Sometimes, fathers are married men, sometimes the trouble started when the man was informed that he would become a father, sometimes the mother is not sure". If no other accommodation is available, a pregnant woman is placed in the Home for Mothers, which is a part of the center in Zvecanska street. There is always space in the Home and every mother can stay there, receive health care and protection, until her child turns one, or she can continue living on her own. Frequently, children are "temporarily" abandoned at this stage as well ("A family is often willing to take the daughter back, but not the baby," says Vesna Tosic), because adolescent girls without means to support themselves cannot be forced to take care of their babies. Mothers are often not sure themselves whether they want the baby or not. If they cannot make up their mind for too long, the Center starts the procedure for removal of the child who is put under the care of social workers at the Center, unless it is fortunate to be adopted.
"It is wrong to think about those women as some sort of monsters," says Vesna Tosic," because most of them are simply not capable of taking care of their children. One cannot try to manipulate emotions of an adolescent mother without an apartment and job. Even if she obtains the right for social assistance, it usually arrives a year late". If nothing else, at least they didn't condemn their unwanted babies to death by suffocation in a plastic bag.