Ethics Council: Abolish baby flaps?
For ten years, desperate pregnant women in Germany have been able to deliver their children anonymously in a so-called baby flap or to give birth and leave them in a clinic. The offer was introduced to prevent women in distress from exposing or even killing their newborns. Since then, 500 children have become foundlings.
The German Ethics Council has now demanded in a statement to give up these baby flaps and offers for anonymous birth. Reason: These facilities would violate the rights of the child to know his background and to relate to his parents. In addition, members of the Ethics Council fear that the offers would not reach those women who were in danger of harming their child. The number of children killed has not changed in Germany since 1999, it is constant at 30 - 40 cases a year.
As an alternative, the Ethics Council calls for better advice and education for women. Already now there are numerous help agencies, such as the child and youth welfare, which support women in need. However, many women would not know that they are entitled to this help. To reduce the inhibition threshold, the Ethics Council also proposed a "confidential child tax"In which the mothers have to reveal their identity, but this remains protected for a year. In medical emergencies, doctors are of course still obliged to help the pregnant woman, even if she wants to remain anonymous.
The Ministry of Family Affairs reacted positively to the proposal of the Ethics Council and announced that it would examine the legal basis for anonymous birth. Criticism, however, came from Margot Käßmann, chairman of the Protestant Church in Germany. The bishop is herself the patron of a baby hatch project in Hannover and fears "that if these offers no longer exist, a circle of people in need of help will no longer be reached". Also six members of the German Ethics Council, including the Catholic Bishop Anton Losinger and the CDU politician Erwin Teufel, distanced themselves from the statement. The German Ethics Council consists of 26 members and has the task of advising politics and society in ethical matters. His recommendations are not binding.
Interview: "Baby flaps can save lives"
We talked about the proposal of the Ethics Council with Leila Moysich, director of the Hamburg project Findelbaby, which opened the first baby flaps in Germany ten years ago.
Leila Moysich has been managing the Findelbaby project in Hamburg for ten years
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: What do you think of the Ethics Council's recommendation to do away with baby flaps?
Leila Moysich: We do not share the opinion of the Ethics Council. Our experience over the past decade has shown that baby flaps can save lives in emergency situations. And the numbers also speak for the offer: In cities where there are baby flaps, the number of children killed and abandoned could be reduced.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Critics of the Baby Flap claim the offer is boosting the number of foundlings. Many women would probably keep their child if the hurdles were greater.
Leila Moysich: I met over 400 women who kept their pregnancy secret and then chose the baby flap or the anonymous birth. None of them made this decision easy. These women not only need help and advice, they also need anonymity to have faith. Not only does the baby hatch provide us with good care for the child, it also gives the mother the opportunity to reflect on her decision without pressure and to return to her child. In the Findelbaby project, 50 to 60 percent of women are women.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: As a compromise, the Ethics Council proposes a "confidential filing" whereby women provide their data but remain protected for one year.
Leila Moysich: I think that's not enough. For one thing, the majority of women already leave their personal data in order to give the child the opportunity to contact them. There are very few cases in which the mothers are so desperate that they want to remain completely anonymous, for example, because they were raped or because they were afraid of their husband. But in these cases, it was really unimaginable for women that the child would eventually learn the identity of her birth mother. And I fear that such women would not dare to seek help if anonymity were limited to one year.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: The Ethics Council argues that it would not reach women who are at real risk of killing or exposing their babies through the baby flap offerings. Can you understand that?
Leila Moysich: No. In Hamburg, for example, babies who were left behind by their mothers on a park bench or in front of a church used to regularly find babies. Since we have the baby flap here, not a single child has been abandoned, and the killings have also decreased. In other cities, the experiences are similar. This shows that women who need help are well reached. Of course, there are regions in Germany where the offer of help is not so well developed and where the women do not know who to turn to. Here we have to enlighten even better.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde.com: Did the ethics council share this experience with baby-flap wearers?
Leila Moysich: No, we find it very unfortunate that the Ethics Council has not spoken to either baby-flap operators or to the women themselves who were in such emergency situations. We made him appropriate offers, but they were not accepted. Perhaps the members of the Council would have come to a different decision.
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