The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODOTeenager 1st to use hospital's 'confidential birth' system
KUMAMOTO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© KYODO
39 Comments
Login to comment
PepperLunch
A step in the right direction, and from the article seems a possible positive outcome for all involved moving forward.
sakurasuki
Pamphlet of this hospital should placed in ラブホテル - so young unmarried couple know that there is an option for them. Otherwise one of them is panic and choose to abandon that poor baby.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/09/20/national/crime-legal/women-arrest-abandon-baby/
MarkX
I really have a lot of respect for this young woman. She made a mistake, but handled it much better than many adults would. She has given this child and herself a chance for a good life. I can't understand how anybody would be against this system.
gogogo
This is much better than secret at home births and the stigma around births for some reason in Japan.
maxjapank
I have known about this hospital for a long time now. They are a true inspiration. Best wishes to them. Best wishes to this newborn baby. And best wishes to the teenager.
virusrex
Looks like a very nice system, that addresses a huge problem in reproductive health, I can see how complications may arise but hopefully in the near future symilar things will be available everywhere.
JRO
Nice to read news from Japan that everyone agrees is a step in the right direction.
Tony W.
Couldn't agree more with the positive comments here; as someone who had to be fostered for the same sort of reason, such ways of handling such a desperate situation for women and girls has been long overdue. As for not knowing my real parents, it never bothered me at all, but I did, out of curiosity, eventually catch up with my birth mother, thanks to a change in legislation, and now have a half-sister and her great family. So being able to easily re-contact could have great benefits.
Oxycodin
It’s good,safe and depressing at the same time. At least this may help Japan with mother’s and family members killing there children.
shogun36
Pretty pathetic for the “third biggest economy.”
offer more of these services so we don’t find locker and toilet babies everywhere, dinosaurs
Joe Blow
I suppose they should open them up to foreign adoption?
SDCA
a step in the right direction. The cause for these pregnancies may not always be lack of education, but can also be caused by abuse. The next step would be to improve the sex education system here and stop with these child fantasies portrayed in anime. Another concern would be:
if many children are not able to seek support from their parents, then parents need to stop worrying about if their child is going to juku or not and actually start paying attention to their kids.
GW
THIS!!!!!!!
Johansawada
well done Jikei Hospital ! i hope this inspires many other hospitals to follow
Mocheake
Good system and they should make sure to publicize it. No need to abandon or kill a child.
Jonathan Prin
I feel the same that it's a system offering a civilized way of helping lost mothers, even if a teenager, although it's only a first in 2021.
I learned that I had a half-brother this way only 8 years ago ;)
That system was already effective some over 50 years ago in UK and surely in most Europe for comparison.
Better late than never.
Isn'it this should become in Japan mandatory by law and applied for all hospitals really ?
japanguy
Good solution. But who will take care of the baby until adopted?
venze
Teenager first to use hospital's 'confidential birth' system :
Therefore, that is the new meaning of confidential.
Who is the father?
Where is the coward?
Will the child ever know the real father..?
Speed
I almost cried when I read the part of the teenager expressing love for the child and writing her/him a letter to be read later.
Yohan
If it is truly confidential for the mother, it has to be confidential for the father as well.
The question is if she even knows who is the father, or in case of of a crime like rape or incest for example and the mother is refusing to talk about the circumstances and does not want to name the father.
I see some legal problems with this 'confidential birth system' coming up for sure - but I think it is still by far much better than abortion or to give birth without any medical assistance and after abandon the newborn somewhere in a park or parking lot....
Yohan
There are children homes in Japan, for children who are orphans or mistreated and about 30.000 children between newborn and 18 years old are living in such homes as far as I know.
About adoption it is very difficult in Japan, a lot of formalities - even to take children out for short-time or long-stay and to take care of them as foster parents is not easy, and this is true even for Japanese families with children, not to talk about foreigners.
Japanese children homes are very reluctant to co-operate with anybody for various reasons. Some of their arguments are however understandable, we have to listen to both sides of the story.
japanguy
i understand there are children homes but not sure if they get the same love as given by parents.
WA4TKG
FINALLY.
TheReds
What a wonderful news. Knowing the mom wrote a letter to the baby, that broke my heart. I truly wish they reunited and someday can live together as mom and child. But whatever the outcome, I wish them all the best.
Abe234
It seems the medics, people, are the ones who have the common sense, to help people live a happy life.
I’m sure the baby will find loving parents. Took guts for that young girl to do what she did.
John-San
The term teenager can referred to under 21 years old in Japan. With such a low birth rate the government really should support the mother to have parenting help and a pension until the child enters day care. Co parenting/ mentor would be the best method until the child is 16 years old. The child can live with the Co- parent during the school week while the mother goes back to school to finish her education. and the weekends the child live with her mother. This means the government support would consist of rent support and education and travel support and a small pension of Y 20,000 a week. Also constance follow up with all concern Mother and co parents.
Yubaru
There is no term "teenager" in Japan. And the "Coming of Age" here is 20, not 21! (Leastwise for the next few months anyway!)
She made an admirable choice and kudos to the hospital and local society for supporting her!
The rest of what you wrote sounds like someone living in dreamland and not Japan. Reality is different, and we all live in the "real" world!
kurisupisu
…
But if it were known that both parents were foreigners then the child would be what?
Stateless?
John-San
Yubaru: That dreamland is Australia. since the late 90,s government have supported young mother and which allow the young mothers to go back to school. Some as young as 14. With the same support I mention. Except the no co parenting and a bigger pension. The program is still going but with fewer now days because of better heath education at school since the last major virus AIDS which they still have no vaccine for.
Pomeranian
Very good !!! This is the way.
Roten
My wife and I adopted two children when we lived in Japan, one through the "special adoption" process in 1991. As I recall it then, we were not supposed to know the mother's name, nor she ours. We also adopted a child in the United States. For the American-born child, we received a letter from her birth mum that we gave to our daughter when she started asking questions. Our 35 yo American-born child is the only one who later found her birth mum (through DNA testing with Ancestory), and they have a good relationship today, with grandchildren having three grandmothers.
With the special adoption process, all legal ties to the birth parent(s) are severed, meaning that the child has no obligations to support the parents in their old age.
One of our children was born stateless, as neither parent was a Japanese citizen. She traveled abroad on a stateless Japanese re-entry permit booklet until we readopted her in the States and procured American citizenship for her. She is now a 31 yo.
Yubaru
Have you ever stopped and taken the time to read the banner of this forum?
It reads JAPAN Today, not Australia Today. To suddenly think that any country can just snap it's fingers and be the same as the one you are talking about is either just stirring the pot, or choosing to be ignorant and naïve about the reality HERE.
Which is it? Stirring the pot? Ignorance?
kaimycahl
The girl had consulted the hospital last November over concerns that her relationship with her mother would be severed if her mother found out about the child. Perhaps the mother being that she is a teenager is probably hoping that in the future if her child is still in an orphanage and not adopted she could go back an reclaim her child and raise him or her herself without any push back from her mother because she would then be an adult. The hospital said that the girl, who lives in western Japan, had expressed hope the child would be raised by another person through special adoption. She left an envelope containing copies of her identification cards for the child to open in the future if he or she wished, as well as a letter addressed to the child, it said.
Zaphod
I think this is a great system and should be promoted. So much better than these horrible stories about murdered babies that we read here occasionally.
John-San
Yubaru: ok tell me why not Japan or the USA can pay a decent minimum seeing they are 1 and 3 largest economies in the world. I tell you why because of people like you always saying bosses are doing it hard and you believe this. Really Japan and the USA Can do the same and better. But you believe this BS about socialism and kick a bloke like Sanders to the curb. Both Countries can afford universal Heath care, a decent minimum wage higher than Australian $22.00 a hour or $17 usd. You believe BS of people who are famous or stars e.g Ragan and Trump. Where did Ragan take the USA ? made manufacturer move offshore. Where did a trump take you??? What was the out come ??!? Made it worst for all. Stop believing your right wing pollis. You are a product of neo conservatives and we will never agree. But I have prove that Australian socialism works. Can you Show me the run on the board your neo conservatives have achieved. You can’t because since Ragan the USA have stalled or gone backwards. I never said this can be achieved over night but if people like me don’t point this out to you, you will always be under the thumb of conservatives.