Baby dolls will be dumped during the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women & Children to draw attention to the “horrific trend of child abandonment‚ illegal abortion and crisis pregnancies in South Africa”.
The dolls are to be ditched with a note reading: “This baby doll has been abandoned. Please feel free to give him or her a loving home.”
The National Adoption Coalition of South Africa (Nacsa) acknowledged that this part of its “Choose to Care” campaign “may seem trite”‚ but added that “many South Africans may be stunned by the simplistic but powerful message accompanying” them.
“For the past decade child abandonment has been on the increase‚ with more than 3500 children estimated abandoned in South Africa in 2010 alonem‚” said Nacsa’s Dee Blackie.
“Illegal abortion is also a growing concern‚ with some studies suggesting that of the approximate 120000 illegal abortions conducted annually‚ more than 50% are done in the third trimester‚ after 26 weeks‚ which is considered to be a viable birth.”
Blackie said that since the launch of Choose to Care in June‚ “we have dealt with more than a thousand queries since then‚ helping around 200 women a month to access support and option counselling” during crisis pregnancies.
One way to support Choose to Care is to take a selfie with the “baby doll you have found and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #choosetocareSA…and join the conversation @choosetocareSA”.