Japan hospital opens drop box for unwanted babies
Pastor Dale Morgan
Japan hospital opens drop box for unwanted babies*
POSTED: 0032 GMT (0832 HKT), May 10, 2007
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A Japanese hospital opened the country's only
anonymous drop box for unwanted infants Thursday despite government
admonitions against abandoning babies.
The baby drop-off, called "Crane's Cradle," was opened by the
Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in the southern city of Kumamoto as a way to
discourage abortions and the abandonment of infants in unsafe public
places. The hospital described it as a parent's last resort.
A small hatch on the side of the hospital allows people to drop off
babies in an incubator 24 hours a day, while an alarm will notify
hospital staff of the new arrival. The infants will initially be cared
for by the hospital and then put up for adoption.
"We started the service but hope it won't be used," head nurse Yukiko
Tajiri said. "I hope it is seen as a symbol that we are always here for
parents to share their difficulty."
But government officials warned the service might only encourage more
abandonments.
"In principle, parents should not abandon their babies anonymously,"
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters Thursday. Chief Cabinet
Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki meanwhile said it was "fundamental for
parents to raise their children with their own hands."
Similar baby drops exist in Germany and South Africa. Some U.S. states,
such as Alabama and Minnesota, also have programs protecting identities
of women who give up their babies.
The drop box was set up after a series of high-profile cases in which
newborn babies were abandoned in parks and supermarkets, triggering a
public outcry.
Abortion is readily available and widespread in Japan where restriction
against the measure is loose and there are no clear religious taboos.
Nearly 290,000 abortions were reported in 2005, according to the Health
Ministry.