The “Stork’s Cradle” opened in May at the Catholic-operated Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto City (southern Japan) with the aim of discouraging abortion and the abandonment of children. The hospital created what some have called the "drop box" after a series of high-profile cases last year in which newborns were abandoned in parks and at supermarkets, triggering a public outcry. Now, desperate people can leave babies in an incubator via a small hatch at the side of the hospital. The children are cared for by the hospital, then put up for adoption.A nice situation? Hardly. Any case of a baby being rejected by her parents is a tragedy. But how much more severe, how much more agonizing, how much more lethal would be a baby left to die in the open or to die earlier by the weapons of an abortionist?
Thus far, the hospital's compassion in offering the "Stork's Cradle" has ministered to 6 children since opening in May. The service has been harshly criticized by many in the press but hospital secretary, Hiromichi Noguchi, has said, "There are still pros and cons, and that’s the way it goes. But the tone of the messages seems to have changed. I think we are slowly but gradually gaining more public understanding."
