When the alarm rang at the Jikei hospital in southern Japan, nurses competed down the spiral stairs. Their mission: to save the remaining babies in one -the hatching of the baby in the country.
For 15 years, this clinic has become a place in Japan, a child can be left anonymous and safe.
Perintis Hospital in the Kumamoto region also offers a 24/7 pregnancy support hotline and one of the “secret birth” programs in the country.
This has made him a target criticism, but the head of doctor Takeshi Huasda saw the facility as a vital safety net.
“There are women out there who are ashamed that they do something terrible (by pregnancy) and is very scared,” he told AFP. “For these women, a place like ours that does not forbid anyone and makes them think ‘even I will be greeted a lot’, I think.”
The nurse tries to arrive at the balka, with an illustration of the bangam and the baby’s bed that tends to be careful, in one minute of the alarm sounded.
“If we find a mother for a long time nearby, we ask if they are comfortable sharing stories with us,” said Saori Taminaga Hospital staff.
They offer to check maternal health, provide support and encourage them to leave information that can help children learn their origin later.
“If they try to leave, we survive and continue to push until before they leave the yard. After that it happens, it’s time we give up.”
The hospital managed by Catholics opened its baby palka in 2007, imitating the German scheme.
Baby Palka has existed globally for centuries and is used today in places including South Korea, Pakistan and the United States.
They have been banned in several countries, such as Britain, and are criticized by the United Nations for violating the right of children to get to know parents and their identities.
‘Alienated by society’
Jikei Hospital sees Palka as a way to prevent child harassment and death in Japan, where the police recorded 27 children’s neglect in 2020 and at least 57 children died due to harassment of the previous year.
Hasuda said the children left behind in the hospital were those who “the results of prostitution, rape and incest”, with mothers did not find any other places to turn away.
“I think the most important role played by our baby hatching system is to provide a last kind of choice for women who are left alienated by the community,” he said.
Overall, 161 babies and toddlers have been dropped in the hospital – with some originating from the Tokyo region, about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) away, and so on.
Hatch also faces skepticism in Japan, in part because of traditional ideas about what is a family, according to Chiaki Shirai, a reproductive study expert and adoption at Shizuoka University.
The country uses a registration system that lists births, deaths, and marriages in families who return to generations. An important part of administrative data also forms a view of family structure.
He has “rooted the idea in Japanese society that anyone who gave birth to a child must raise a child,” to the point where children are almost considered “property” of parents, Shirai told AFP. “Children who are left behind and displayed do not have a family in a registry that is highly centified.”
Although the anonymity offered by Palka, children’s welfare officials usually try to track the baby’s family left in the hospital.
As a result, around 80 percent then studied their family’s identity, and 20 percent had returned to parents or relatives.
‘It’s all your fault’
Jikei Hospital has expanded the services it offers to marginalized women, adding a “secret birth” program to a pregnancy hotline that advances thousands of calls a year.
Two babies have been born under this program, which according to the hospital is intended to prevent risky and solitary delivery at home.
The two mothers told Jikei that they had been harassed by their parents and wanted their children to be prepared to be adopted, said Hasuda.
Under the scheme, a mother’s identity was revealed to a single staff and blessing for possible disclosures to the child in the future.
The program also faces opposition – and while the government has not stated it illegal, it has carried out legislation to formalize it.
Shirai says women who use secret births or infant assessments not to choose other options, including abortion.
“‘You can choose abortion but no. Now all your fault is a type of sentiment,” he said.
Abortion has been legal in Japan since 1948 and is available for up to 22 weeks, but approval is needed from male partners. The exception is given only in the case of rape or harassment in the household, or if the partner dies or is lost.
Hasuda also feels that people often prefer to blame women rather than help them.
“The motivation of the community to sympathize with them or help them seem low, if not completely absent,” he said.