Shanghai police disputed media reports Monday that a teenage mother intentionally threw her newborn son out of a sixth-floor window on Sunday morning, but they did say there are still many questions to answer in the case.

The girl, whose name hasn't been released as she is a minor, gave birth to her son either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning in an apartment in Pudong owned by her mother's former husband.

"Because the baby boy didn't cry, the girl couldn't judge whether he was alive or not," said police spokesman Zhang Dong.

Fearing the baby was dead, and trying desperately to keep her pregnancy a secret, the young mother placed the baby in a plastic bag and then hung it on a set of security bars outside the apartment's window.

But the bars broke around 5am on Sunday, sending the baby falling onto a windowsill on the fourth floor of the building.

Around 7am, a couple living on the building's fourth floor discovered the naked baby boy covered in blood and called the police.

The infant was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Police are still investigating the case to determine if the baby was still alive when the young mother placed it outside. The mother was hospitalized Monday after complaining of exhaustion following the birth.

No one was home at the apartment on Boshan Road E. when a Shanghai Daily reporter visited early Monday afternoon.

According to neighbors, the apartment was rented by a local factory worker surnamed Xi who was once married to the teenage girl's mother. He lived there with his teenage son, whom he had with his second wife.

While the young mother isn't related to the two, she still visits and stays in the apartment on occasions.

Neighbors, classmates and school officials have said they were completely unaware of the girl's pregnancy.

Police haven't decided yet if they will press any charges in the case, but Liu Chunquan, a local lawyer, said the girl may have committed involuntary manslaughter if police can prove she was able to foresee the unfortunate results of her actions.

A 17-year-old mother in Guangzhou who threw her baby out of an eighth-story window last year was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of probation.

Social workers say the case shows local youngsters aren't getting adequate sex education.

According to a survey of 1,000 university students conducted by the local family planning institute, nearly 60 percent of those surveyed said they know little about contraception, while 9.4 percent said they know nothing about avoiding pregnancy.

Those numbers raise concern as only 11.7 percent of respondents said they don't think students should be engaged in sex.

"With our sex society getting more open, the number of teenage mothers may increase. Society needs to cooperate to solve the problem," said Ma Qianfeng, a sociology professor at Fudan University.

(eastday.com December 23, 2003)