The baby hatches have been in Germany since the 19th century to provide an alternative for German women to allow their unwanted babies to live. The heated box located in German hospitals has a built-in alarm that alerts medical personnel when a baby is placed inside.
Baby hatch critics said the device goes against a German law that makes anonymous births illegal. But supporters argued even if it is against the law, women will still get pregnant and the baby hatches are the better alternative to prevent infanticide.
Following the discovery of the two dead infants, the state of Baden-Wurttenberg renewed calls Monday for the legalization of anonymous births throughout the country. Baden-Wurttemberg and Bavaria has draft legislations proposing its legalization, but they could not muster sufficient support from politicians.
If anonymous births are allowed in German hospitals there would be higher survival chances for both mother and baby. According to the state of Stuttgart, 40 to 50 infants are born in secret and without medical attention throughout Germany every year.
Meanwhile, German victims of thalidomide will launch a campaign to seek for higher compensation from makers of Contergan, a sedative that has thalidomide. The drug was prescribed to pregnant women in the 1950s and resulted to their giving birth to limbless babies. Half of the 10,000 thalidomide babies worldwide, now in their 50s, were born in West Germany.
More than 2,700 thalidomide babies are still living in Germany, according to Andreas Meyer, president of a German association of Contergan victims. A compensation fund set up in the 1970s with a capital of 110 million deutsche marks ($83 million at current rates) has been exhausted. The victims receive a monthly stipend of $800 (545 euro) from the government.
Meyer said the victims are asking for an six-fold hike in monthly compensation between $3,085 and $5,141 (2,100 and 3,500 euro) and a one-time payment of $1.47 million (one million euro) per victim.
