KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — The fact that marital status has been a pre-requisite for Malaysian women to obtain sexual and reproductive health services paints a stark picture on the reality faced by non-married, young Malaysian women in this era.

Firstly, although the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development has confirmed that single (unmarried) women can be prescribed contraception, this is only allowed with the condition that she agrees to “counselling” aimed at discouraging “random sex”.

Secondly, despite the worrying revelation by Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr. S. Subramaniam that an average of 18,000 teen girls get pregnant each year and seek medical attention at Malaysian government clinics, with a record of only 25 per cent or 4,500 cases involving non-married teenage girls, one wonders if the high incidence of teenage pregnancies is justified by marital status, especially when related figures are always reported negatively based on marital status, whether the pregnancies are “out-of-wedlock” or a result of “random sex”, instead of focusing on the adverse social, physical, mental and emotional health consequences of teenage pregnancies.

In fact, marital status has been such an important social norm that child marriage is still legally permitted in Malaysia, based on the Civil law (i.e. the Family Law permits the marriage of girls at 16 years of age with the authorisation of the Chief Minister according to Section 10 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1978), and Syariah law (i.e. Muslim girls can marry as soon as they reach the legal age of 16 years old, with an exception that allows both Muslim boys and girls below the minimum legal age to marry if the boy/girl receives permission in writing from the Syariah Judge in certain circumstances). 

In some extreme cases seen in the past, child sexual abuse, including child rape and teenage pregnancies are justified by marriage between the perpetrator and victim.

Our sexual and reproductive health policies, if examined closely, generally points to an anti-choice approach that prescribes only specific “socially condoned behaviours” within a married context guided by morality and values, instead of offering medically accurate information as well as accessible, acceptable, safe and affordable comprehensive sexual and reproductive services needed by young unmarried women from a non-judgemental basis.

Most of our policy makers believe that an abstinence-based approach will reduce “random sex” — their priority social agenda masquerading as prevention that have been proven to be ineffective in intervention studies, and do not acknowledge that the only consequence from these “non-married, non-youth-friendly” policies and barriers prescribed by medical health care professionals who act as moral gatekeepers, is that many young unmarried women who require these essential services will be left out, especially those who are poor, marginalised, socially excluded and underserved. 

Typically, a young teenage Malaysian girl is first denied comprehensive sexuality education, and being prescribed only abstinence-based type of programmes. She would not have sufficient information, such as how pregnancy occurs, the responsibilities and consequences involved in engaging in sexual relationships, how contraception prevents unplanned pregnancies and how condom provides dual-protection against sexually transmitted infections, emergency contraception available over-the-counter, affordable safe abortion services, and access to other non-judgemental reproductive health and counseling services to make responsible informed decision.

She may then be blamed and even shamed by the same society who denied her of the essential information to decide on her health, for being a single mother, or for baby dumping, or she would be married off, missing the opportunities to further her education or develop her talents, whereas the teenage boys or adult men would usually get away with it.

We would like to emphasise that it is possible to sensitise health care providers to provide services to all, irrespective of their background. In fact, we would like to applaud many doctors and nurses who are compassionate and ethical in providing the needed services and referrals to young unmarried clients in the public health care system. However, there is still much to be done.

We hope that the government, specifically the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, the Ministry of Health, as well as the Ministry of Education would work closely with reproductive health NGOs to explore the importance of sensitisation programmes targeted at policy makers, healthcare providers and educators.

As a member association of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur Family Reproductive Health Association (SWP FReHA) and our colleagues throughout Malaysia have been providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services and referrals, from a rights-based and evidence-based approach, especially to pockets of community who are poor, marginalised, socially excluded and underserved, irrespective of their marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity in the past 60 years.

As the world now strives to achieve the newly formed Global Goals as part of the sustainable development agenda, of which Malaysia is also part of the movement, it is time to uphold a more practical approach guided by changing population and demographic patterns in order to serve the community better.

For the goals to be reached, everyone needs to do their part: governments, the private sector, civil society and people like you, especially in changing the norm to provide a supportive and enabling environment for all, irrespective of background, to achieve good health and wellbeing!

* Juliana Ooi is a youth volunteer with the Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur Family Reproductive Health Association (SWP FReHA).

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** This is the personal opinion of the writer or the organisation of whom she is a volunteer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online