Airport screening officials must have had the shock of their lives when they sent a mother's handbag through the x-ray machine the other day. The scanner showed a 5-month-old baby boy! Let me repeat this so it will sink in: someone actually thought it was a good idea to put an infant in a purse and send him through airport scanners.
Folks, Paris Hilton carries her dog in a handbag. You do NOT, under any circumstances, put a baby in one! And yet, that's what airport officials say an Egyptian man and his wife did in order to smuggle their baby.
I've been wracking my brain, trying to summon some sympathy for these people, trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it's not working out well.
The parents are now in deep trouble in the United Arab Emirates, where they were first stopped by airport officials because their baby didn't have any official documents. According to police, the couple allegedly waited for a shift change, stashed their poor child in the bag, and tried to get into the country once again, apparently thinking that no one would notice the living, breathing human being inside mom's purse.
Stuffing him in a handbag is, of course, the worst part of all of this -- I don't even want to think about what could have happened to the poor little guy. But the fact is, if all of this is true, they've treated this baby like a non-human from the get-go. The mere fact that they tried to fly him into the country without the proper paperwork means they were treating him more like a piece of luggage than a child. Here in America most moms apply for a birth certificate and a Social Security card before we even leave the hospital! And they did nothing?
Parents shouldn't have to be reminded that a baby is just as important as someone who can speak for themselves, but every day we see those parents-to-be who think that they will be able to live their lives exactly as they did before the birth. Let this be your big, fat wake-up call: that baby is a human being, with wants and needs. You can't just stuff them in your purse when they get annoying.
What do you make of this whole baby smuggling scandal?
Image via Joe Shlabotnik/Flickr
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Comments 50
I don't understand why they'd do that...other than to save money...didn't they know they'd be scanned? People's stupidity continues to amaze me.
OMG. they are that dimwitted a child that age flies free so cost wouldnt be an issue, but with this day and ages security systems they should have realised that the child wouldn't make it through.
I can't believe most commenters are siding with the people who put the baby in a purse!! No matter what circumstances, it is NEVER ok to put a baby in a purse!!
WOW!!!!
In 1970 my husbands family had to flee communist Romania but had very little money to do so. They could only afford to take one child over the border, but they had two- a 3 year old and a 6 month old (who is now my hudband). In a desperate move they smuggled their baby out of the country in a duffle bag. I have no idea how long he was in there, but the plan worked and they made it out.
I know that story isn't quite the same scenario as this one, but thats the only other baby in a bag story I know, and it shows that sometimes there actually IS a good reason to smuggle a baby in a bag.
To everyone who is making this black and white when I'm almost entirely sure it has many MANY shades of grey - You better wake up every morning and kiss the red, white, and blue of the American flag before you sit down to your breakfast, coffee, and cartoons because as shitty as things are for us at times, there are at least some rights that we DO have.
my first question is, do they know for sure the baby is even theirs? just curious.
Also they said she was pregnant and wanted to give birth in their home country the baby is 5 months old so if she is close to giving birth that does not add up at all.
The aricle is overly harsh, but the bottom line is radiation and limited air is dangorous to anyone, but especially to a five month old baby. Further more, smuggling anything into a country is illegal. A baby is even more so. It doesn't matter how harsh your conditions are, what you are running from, or why you want your baby in America. If you can't respect the laws required to gain access into a country- weather it's America or anywhere else, you have no right to be in said country. If they couldn't recieve proper documentation to bring their baby home, then they should have just had the kid here, or stayed inEgypt if it was that important to birth their baby in their home country. You cannot say "I want to be an American" and then break the law just by being here- or brining your children here. Either be a law abiding CITIZEN or stay where you are.
There is DEFINATELY more to this story. A lot of people in that area of the world can not bring their child legally outside of their country until a certain age or not at all. There are a lot of restrictions and guide lines and prohibitations. These poor people were probably dealing with a similar situation and were trying to do what is best. Shame on who wrote this article, you should really do your homework and take some sympathy for others.