Germany Debates Ethics of anonymous Birth

The recent case of a woman charged with murdering eight of her babies has re-focused public attention on the thorny issue of "baby slots." Do they really prevent infanticide, and are they legal?

According to the pro anonymous birth camp, the lives of eight babies might have been saved if their mother had been able to deposit her new-born infants in what's known in Germany as a "Babyklappe," a heated, incubator-like container usually built into a hospital wall.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: "If it saves one life, it's worth it"In the same week the woman accused of killing her babies appeared in court in Frankfurt (Oder), the third Babyklappe in Saxony-Anhalt opened at Magdeburg's St. Marienstift hospital, which publicly admits it allows anonymous births.

"It happens more often than people think," said Heike Auricchio, a doctor at the clinic. "No one wants anonymous births to be anything other than an exception, but it is a necessary option for desperate women."

With 80 Babyklappen now spread across the nation, Germany has seen something of a baby slot boom since the Hamburg-based organization "Sternipark" unveiled the first in the country in 2000. In the first year alone, 13 babies were left in Sternipark's drop-off point, corroborating the project's belief that it offers an invaluable social service.

"If we manage to save one life this way, then it's worth it," said Sternipark's Kathrin Kliesow.

Giving women an easy way out

But while the advocates of Babyklappen say they prevent distraught women from leaving their babies to die in cellars or garbage cans, the critics say they offer women a convenient way of getting rid of an unwanted baby without having to jump through daunting bureaucratic hoops.

Not so, said Kliesow.

"Obviously, we'd rather talk to the women first and offer support," she said. "The Babyklappe should only ever be a last resort. But these women are having a baby, whatever happens, and it's first and foremost a question of helping them do so safely, and without risk of legal recrimination."

Auricchio also stressed that anonymous birth is only ever an eleventh-hour option.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Many argue that the child's interests come first "We talk to women about their options and often we can persuade them to accept their child," she said. "Our first priority is the right to life and the child's well-being."

A criminal offence

Nonetheless, their defense -- well-meaning as it is -- also highlights the problems inherent in anonymous birth. Ethical matters such as child's right to know its parents and a parent's duty to a child aside, law experts agree the practice is actually illegal, but tolerated.

Bildunterschrift: The law turns a blind eye to anonymous birth"Every time a hospital carries out an anonymous birth, it's committing a criminal offence," said CDU member of parliament Beatrix Philipp, a vocal opponent of the Babyklappen. "By offering this service, you actually create a demand. A generation of foundlings is emerging in Germany, with state approval. It's time public prosecutors intervened to shut down these Babyklappen and ensure anonymous birth is not legitimized by hospitals."

Alfred Wolf, a professor of law at the Humboldt University who has written extensively on the issue, agreed.

"What it does is actually encourage women to break the law," he said. "We don't even need new laws, we need to enforce existing ones. This is a violation of public order. No matter how desperate these women might be, they always have legal options available to them."

Emotionally charged

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The first baby drop station was in Hamburg"Babyklappen are a pseudo-solution," Wolf said, stressing that they fail to address the social roots of the problem. "But overhauling our social system is time-consuming and expensive. And welfare offices are under a lot of political pressure."

The political pressure he refers to derives from the fact that although experts fear anonymous birth is a legally unsound procedure open to various forms of abuse, public support makes outlawing it a thorny issue.

"This is a very emotionally charged debate," Philipp said. "It would be very difficult to clamp down -- it would never be a popular decision."

Who is helping who?

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Demand for children to adopt is rising
Many suspect that too many people have a vested interest in anonymous birth.

When a child is born anonymously, the clinic is left with the costs of the birth. While it will usually foot the bill itself, or -- as in the case of the Catholic St Marienstift in Magdeburg -- can turn to religious organizations or charities such as Sternipark, there are other, more sinister options.

"An insurer will actually treat a couple adopting as the biological parents if they take a child born anonymously immediately rather than waiting the statutory eight weeks," Wolf said. "This can only be an advantage to international child trafficking. People cannot believe this is happening in Germany, but it is."

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German hospitals are required to register births with the authorities and pass on information about the mother, leading some women to give birth alone and leave the baby to die. A Hamburg charity tries to prevent this.

It's a clear blue sky and the sun is shining on a beautiful winter day in northern Germany. Surrounded by rolling hills near the city of Flensburg, an old farm called Satrupholm offers space for 40 women and their children. A Hamburg charity called Sternipark uses the place to help women who want to give birth anonymously.

The farm's main building includes a kitchen and a communal room for meals. Toys lie on the floor of the living room. An old red-brick barn next door has been converted into a dormitory.

Jenny is one of the women living here. She says the farm is a place for her to be herself, a place where she doesn't have to hide her belly, where she can find some peace. "I can think about what I want to do once the baby is here," she says and mentions adoption and a foster family as two options.

Hiding the growing belly

Before coming to the farm, Jenny had been hiding her belly. She rarely went outside and covered her pregnancy underneath large sweaters whenever she went shopping. The 26-year-old woman didn't know how to go on since she was already a single mother. She couldn't expect any help from her parents nor the father of her unborn child -- it had just been a brief affair. But Jenny didn't want to get an abortion.

Many of the women who come to Satrupholm have similar experiences. At some point, however, it's too difficult to hide the growing belly. The people at Sternipark hope that these women come to them for help on time.

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: A baby slot at a German hospital that lets women drop of their unwanted newborns anonymously."In many cases, they've not seen a doctor," says Leila Moysich, who helps run Satrupholm. "We invite them here and if they have children they can bring them along as well." Moysich and her colleagues then take the women to the doctor and make sure they have adequate medical care when they give birth.

At Satrupholm, this can even happen anonymously -- something that's important for Jenny and many of the other women and allows them to see their pregnancy as something positive.

"It's a liberating experience," Jenny says. "It was summer and I wore a skirt and a shirt and felt beautiful with my big belly. That was great."

Time to decide

Some women still choose not to give their name when the baby comes. Sternipark helps them, since not every hospital admits pregnant women anonymously. Some hospitals across Germany now cooperate with the organization and the women can return to the farm, with or without their children, after they give birth. Until the women have decided what they want to do, the babies are placed in foster families.

At first, Jenny didn't want to keep her newborn daughter and left her with foster parents for the first eight weeks. She visited regularly and the foster mother came to the farm as well. When she decided to take back the girl, Satrupholm helped her by offering her child care during the day and sometimes overnight. "Now everything is great," she says and looks at her second child that's now six months old. Soon Jenny will leave the farm -- with both her children.

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