Two 16-year-old students arrested for dumping body of newborn baby

RIP little baby

Literally a crying shame, this should never happen, and yet so sadly it does.

The girl said she hid her pregnancy from her family and did not go a hospital when the baby was born.

There is something seriously wrong with a family that does not pay enough attention to their own children that a daughter can get pregnant, have a baby, and NO ONE know about it!

This is a sad story, and at the same time its highlighting a lot of underlying issues regarding sex, and abortion in Japan.

You students don't get anywhere near enough sex education from a junior high school level up, it wasn't that long ago either that their was an article about to senior high school students who were suspended from their school for having sex.

Stupid backeards attitudes towards sex and a lack of options leave young people with little choice.

Also the difficulty in accessing abortions and the outdated and expensive methods that are used in Japan seem to be specifically made to push people into having unwanted kids.

As much as some people disagree with abortion, i would rather see it done in a safe hospital setting with proper consultation with a Dr rather than in someone's backyard.

Abortion is readily available and widely practiced teens can't have one without parental consent.

Widely available but still terribly stigmatized, expensive because its not covered by the national health scheme, and RU 486 is not available so i would hardly call it modern. Also a lot of the times doctors will try and guilt people into having babies. As for their age, i think having parents consent at that age is reasonable, but i don't think many kids in Japan would tell their parents.

@pacint - Abortion is readily available and widely practiced teens can't have one without parental consent.

Yeah, that's right, as long as they can come up with the ¥150-200,000 to pay for it, of course.

The issue is not abortion (after the fact). The issue is contraception and education (before the fact). Many teens are sexually active at 16 all over the world. Many of the girls I grew up with were taking the pill at that age. Nowadays, there are many more options. Of course condoms are readily available everywhere, but due to a lack of education teenagers are not using any contraception. Education is the answer to this problem. "If it's not on, it's not on!"

Also the difficulty in accessing abortions and the outdated and expensive methods that are used in Japan seem to be specifically made to push people into having unwanted kids.

And just how do you know that the methods are outdated? And your assumption about pushing people to have unwanted children is off the mark as well. Oh and costs? Because they are not covered under NHI yeah it's probably high, but even in the US they can run to 1,000.00 too!

Do you have any idea how many abortions are done in Japan yearly? 100?, 1,000?

Look at the chart in the link below and you will see that your assumptions are off the mark. Women know about abortions, over 180,000 were performed in 2014, last year with statistics available, and while the number are dropping, that is more due to the aging of society than anything else.

Seems like folks here have some pretty strange preconceived notions about Japan and abortion.

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/ab-japan.html

Such a sad story, completely agree with szero & disillusioned. I would add the 'morning after pill' to the list of 'options' that could have saved a baby's life. Would also have been much, much less traumatic for the 2 young teens involved. Inform kids, make it available & affordable over the counter. But as disillusioned said, contraception and education are key.

Food for thought, out of .1,003,539 live births here in Japan there were 181,905 abortions!

Meaning that over 10% of potential live births here in Japan are aborted!

@yubaru, didn't expect such numbers tbh, close to 1/5 actually.

Just out of curiosity, I looked at 'my' countries; france has over 200,000 abortions/year (1/4 pregnancies) while Australia has 70/80,000 ab/year (population 70M & 25M respectively)

Again, really didn't expect such high numbers.

i agree with disillusioned. how many men or boys carry or have access or use condons? how many women or girls demand them? baby hatches are a good way for some who don't want a termination. and free confidential sexual health services are one of the best things in london that reduced aids, std's etc. contraception should be free and encouraged. the myth that it decreases pleasure is utter poppycock and japanese society should wak up. one in 10 high school students in Japan, and 23.5 percent of 16-year-old girls have an std.

Don't forget that the story was listed under the crime section, and these two "children" will get away with murder.

Oh wait a minute, now let's hear from the "how do we know it wasn't stillborn" crowd.

And I only used the term it because the sex was not revealed

Confom access is easy. Pop down to your local chemist or combini.

Guess most teens are just not aware. Prevention should be covered in Sex-ed, ditto for STD.

And I only used the term it because the sex was not revealed

The show a little respect and say, "how do we know the baby wasn't stillborn".

its the womans choice. at 16, means probably 15. too young. the girl needed choices.

Don't forget that the story was listed under the crime section, and these two "children" will get away with murder.

Oh wait a minute, now let's hear from the "how do we know it wasn't stillborn" crowd.

At this point we don't know whether it was stillborn or live born. If it was stillborn it's hardly murder. If it was live, it was murder.

I thought there was a no questions asked baby drop off program in Japan for cases such as this. Perhaps because of their age, they did not have access to anonymous childbirth support. If so, maybe such a facility should be added to the list. The population is declining enough without adding infanticide to the list of causes.

The Baby-hatch is in Kumamoto a long way from Kanagawa.

Oh... only one?

That's not just abandoning a body -- that's flat out murder. Please for the love of god try them as adults and send them to prison for life. Lockup the idiot parents for not noticing (more likely ignoring) it, too!

That's not just abandoning a body -- that's flat out murder.

Only if the baby was born alive.

Is it murder? How scared must the kids have been? Did they come from strict families?

There's an awful lot about this tragedy that isn't known.

The Baby-hatch is in Kumamoto a long way from Kanagawa.

Like I say every time this happens, more baby hatches should be made. If it is troublesome, have at least one in every big city.

It is sad story and I can see why they have done that. From what I heard from my exs and some friends they can't and don't talk to their parents about many things even if it's just about how they feel, no hugs, so imagine a pregnancy outside wedlock it would brings shame on the family and many prefer to hide stuff than confronting reality. I certainly don't agree with that. They also should stop guessing on how others think and really start to talk to each other. I am sure it would help them a lot of course sex ed and the use of contraception tools.

This girl was able to hide a pregnancy while wearing the typical hiked-up schoolgirl skirt and shirt/sweater, still participate in all the normal activities, etc? And where do you go to quietly squirt out a baby, the local mall's bathroom?

First of all, how does the family not notice that she is pregnant. Wouldn't it be pretty obvious?