익명출산제도가 베이비박스의 대안인가- 베이비박스의 실태와 익명출산제도의 문제점 검토 -

In this article, I'll take a look at the reality of baby boxes and the problems with anonymous birthing, which has been discussed as an alternative to baby boxes. The main argument in favor of baby boxes is that they are necessary to protect the child's right to life. However, this claim has not been properly tested. Studies have shown that there is no correlation between installing a baby box and protecting a child's right to life. Meanwhile, more than 80% of the children who were abandoned in baby boxes were placed in long-term care. This practice violates national laws and international human rights norms that prioritize family-style care. One of the biggest problems with baby boxes is that they violate children's right to be registered. The Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court have recently ruled that a child's right to be registered is a prerequisite for the guarantee of fundamental rights. However, children abandoned in baby boxes are completely deprived of their right to be registered as they have no access to their biological parents. In addition, baby boxes are currently 'unregistered' facilities, meaning that they are outside the scope of relevant laws such as the Child Welfare Act and the management and supervision of local governments and governments, leaving them in the blind spot of child rights protection. As an alternative to these baby boxes, anonymous births are being discussed. The main argument is that anonymous childbirth systems have been legislated and operated overseas, such as in Germany and France, but it is important to note that each country has a different environment in terms of social awareness and institutional support for single mothers. Most importantly, Germany and France have well-developed support systems for single mothers. In Germany, none of the children abandoned in baby boxes come from single mothers, while in Korea, around 70% of children are from single mothers. Policies for single mothers should be aimed at improving social awareness of single mothers and providing sufficient support systems so that they do not abandon their children because they are single mothers. However, anonymous birth control violates women's reproductive rights by reinforcing and spreading social norms that pregnancy and childbirth outside of marriage should be eliminated and concealed. In France, a country with a long history of anonymous births, there have been a number of recent testimonies from women who have been forced to give birth anonymously. It would be a mistake to expect anonymous births to solve all problems without adequate support policies for single parents. Rather than rushing to introduce anonymous births, we should focus on how to improve the system to ensure that children's rights to be registered and to know their identity are maximized, and how to ensure that pregnant women in social distress are able to exercise their reproductive rights safely and healthily.