Infanticide on rise in Germany

by Tom Strode                                                                                            Vol. XX, No. 8, October 2007

An outbreak of infanticide this year has prompted German cities to urge mothers in crisis to leave their unwanted babies in hatches at hospitals in order to save the children's lives.

The murders of at least 23 babies have been reported so far this year in Germany, but crime specialists believe the actual number is higher, according to the March 27 issue of The Times of London. Many of these infants have been "beaten to death or strangled by their mothers before being dumped on wasteland and in dustbins," The Times reported.

The surge in infanticides has stunned the country and led city councils to initiate advertising to promote the use of what are known as Baby-Klappe hatches, according to the newspaper. The hatches permit mothers to leave their babies without being identified at the secluded drop-off points, which number more than 90 in Germany, The Times reported.

This "rise of infanticide is shocking, but hardly surprising," said R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, on his March 28 weblog entry. "After all, in many societies these babies could be safely aborted almost up to the time of their delivery. The logic of infanticide is just the logic of abortion pushed beyond the moment of birth.

"The fact that Germans have responded with outrage over this spate of infanticides is comforting in one sense, but it also reveals the hypocrisy of the age," Mohler wrote. "How can infanticide be wrong and abortion be a basic right? Both mean the killing of a baby, and both represent the Culture of Death at its most deadly."

Police have yet to provide an explanation for the increase in infanticides, which have occurred throughout the country and have involved women of a variety of ages, according to The Times.

Some experts have said the desire to keep their partners has motivated some mothers to take lethal action against their offspring. "Some women have a greater fear of losing their partners than of losing their child," criminologist Helmut Kury said, The Times reported. "They take desperate measures to save a relationship."

When using a Baby-Klappe hatch, a mother places her child on a tray, which slides through a hole and slowly lowers the baby onto a heated cot, according to the newspaper. After the mother has had time to leave, an alarm informs a nurse a child has been deposited.

Pakistan and the Philippines also have baby drops, The Times reported.

Since the late 1990s, more than 45 states in the U.S. have passed laws establishing safe havens where newborns can be dropped off by mothers who do not want to keep them. [BP]