Japanese Catholic Hospital Provides "Drop Box" for Unwanted Babies

I'm a little surprised this hasn't received any attention:

TOKYO -- A Japanese hospital opened the country's only anonymous drop box for unwanted infants Thursday despite government admonitions against abandoning babies.

The baby drop-off, called "Crane's Cradle," was opened by the Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in the southern city of Kumamoto as a way to discourage abortions and the abandonment of infants in unsafe public places. The hospital described it as a parent's last resort.

A small hatch on the side of the hospital allows people to drop off babies in an incubator 24 hours a day, while an alarm will notify hospital staff of the new arrival. The infants will initially be cared for by the hospital and then put up for adoption.

"We started the service but hope it won't be used," head nurse Yukiko Tajiri said. "I hope it is seen as a symbol that we are always here for parents to share their difficulty."

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Similar baby drops exist in Germany and South Africa. Some U.S. states, such as Alabama and Minnesota, also have programs protecting identities of women who give up their babies.

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The drop box was set up after a series of high-profile cases in which newborn babies were abandoned in parks and supermarkets, triggering a public outcry.

Abortion is readily available and widespread in Japan where restriction against the measure is loose and there are no clear religious taboos.

Nearly 290,000 abortions were reported in 2005, according to the Health Ministry. [More...]

While clearly it is a very sad thing for a baby to be abandoned by its parents, I'm very happy to see this Catholic-run hospital in Japan providing this service, especially since they call it a "last resort" and hope for it to be a symbol of their commitment to helping parents in difficult situations (and let's also not forget the infants in danger of being abandoned or aborted before birth).

Your thoughts?