Nearly 70% support unwed childbearing if protections existed: NGO

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) Nearly 70 percent of respondents said they would support unmarried partners and single women having children if key institutional protections were established, according to an online survey released Tuesday by a Taiwanese childcare NGO.

The Childcare Policy Alliance said that when protections are lacking, 71 percent oppose non-marital childbearing and 61 percent oppose single parenting.

However, once both parents have child support obligations, and government-supported childcare and "anti-discrimination" measures are in place, opposition would "reverse to nearly 70 percent support."

On single women having children, the alliance said 60 percent oppose the idea in the absence of childcare, anti-discrimination and workplace support systems.

If government support systems were in place, respondents would "flip to 70 percent support" for single women having children, the alliance said.

Taiwan faces a severe declining birthrate, with its total fertility rate among the lowest in the world alongside Singapore, the alliance said at a press conference in Taipei ahead of International Women's Day on March 8.

The alliance said it conducted the online survey from Feb. 13 to Feb. 24 and collected 1,305 responses, of which 88.5 percent were from women.

Wang Chao-ching (王兆慶), convener of the Childcare Policy Alliance, said that "Taiwanese people are in fact not as conservative as imagined."

Unlike same-sex marriage, the public does not view non-marital childbearing through moral judgment, but worries "in a practical sense that single-parent childrearing will have no resources," Wang said.

"If government systems are in place, everyone will support it," he said.

Lin Lu-hung (林綠紅), chairperson of Taiwan Women's Link, said that Taiwanese women are "not unwilling" to have children, but want children without in-law relationships.

She said that although some local governments subsidize egg freezing, the requirement to be married and have one partner infertile means that "many women who hope to give birth while single cannot use" the eggs, resulting in their disposal.

Lin urged the Legislature to prioritize passing widely agreed provisions of the Assisted Reproduction Act so that single women can use assisted reproduction and receive institutional and resource protections.

Lee Ying-hsueh (李盈學), policy director at the Awakening Foundation, said poverty among single mothers is often misunderstood as "personal morality or a wrong choice," when in fact it is "the result of systemic punishment."

He called on the government to follow recommendations from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development to ensure children in all family types can enjoy their best interests through sufficient public care resources and anti-discrimination laws.