Abandoned Babies
January 7, 2008
In Hanover last Wednesday, a baby boy was found dead just steps from a city hospital baby hatch -- a heated box fixed with an alarm to alert staff should a baby be placed inside. In Karlsruhe on Thursday, a baby girl was found dead in a similar baby hatch; officials say she had likely died before being left there. In both cases, there are no clues as to the identity of the parents.
Baby hatches have existed in Germany since the 19th century in the hope of preventing infanticide by giving desperate mothers a safe place to leave their unwanted babies. But they have always been controversial, mainly because it is illegal to give birth anonymously in Germany.
Critics of the hatches say they help women circumvent the law. But voices on the other side of the debate say that anonymous births will take place no matter what the law says, and that it is better to provide mothers who feel compelled to give birth in secret an anonymous drop-off point for their babies.
Calls to legalize anonymous births
Now, the two incidents in Hanover and Karlsruhe are rekindling the anonymous birth debate. Both government and Protestant church officials in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg have renewed calls for legalizing anonymous births, which would give pregnant women the option of delivering in a hospital without stating their name.
The state of Baden-Württemberg has long been a proponent of legal anonymous births in Germany and, together with the state of Bavaria, has drawn up draft legislation. But while the draft has frequently been up for discussion, it has never received the necessary majority from all the committees involved, according to a spokesperson from the state justice ministry.
According to statistics from the regional government in Stuttgart, 40 to 50 babies are born in secret without medical assistance each year nationwide, and less than half survive. Having the option of giving birth anonymously in a hospital would reduce the risks for both mother and child, proponents argue.
Officials discuss how to help desperate moms
In the eastern German state of Lower Saxony, Social Minister Mechthild Ross-Luttmann said she intends to talk with those organizations that sponsor baby hatches about ways to improve the service.
"Perhaps there's a need for improvement at some of the hatches," she told German news agency dpa, adding that signs with instructions in several languages would be a sensible addition.
A spokeswoman from the free-market liberal Free Democratic Party's parliamentary group said that the cases in Hanover and Karlsruhe should not result in criticism of baby hatches. Instead, they should inspire more discussion of how to give such services a legal framework, and how best to help desperate mothers-to-be.
Hanover's regional bishop, Margot Kässmann, an outspoken proponent of baby hatches, also rejected criticism of the service. Baby hatches could be "part of a broader concept to help pregnant women in need."