Germany tells desperate mums: don't kill babies, 'bin' them

BERLIN - SHOCKED by a sudden surge in the number of infanticide cases, Germany has launched an advertising campaign to highlight the problem while urging desperate women to drop their unwanted babies into 'baby-klappe' (baby-drop) hatches in hospitals.

At least 23 babies have been killed so far this year, many beaten to death or strangled by their mothers before being dumped on wasteland or in rubbish bins, reported the Times of London.

German police investigating the murders are at a loss to explain the sudden surge in such cases - at least five dead babies were found in the last two weeks alone.

On Thursday, a 27-year-old woman known as Sabine H. surrendered to the police in an eastern German town after her newborn child was found in a rubbish bag trapped in the reeds of a lake.

In the same week, a woman aged 26 was arrested on suspicion of throwing her baby out of a 10-storey Hamburg apartment building after giving birth in the bath. The baby was wrapped in a plastic bag.

Another woman was arrested in Kiel, in Germany's north, a week ago after police found two dead babies in her freezer. One was stillborn a year ago; the other was a recent live birth.

For the past week, Susanne H. from Baiersdorf in Bavaria has been on trial for strangling her baby daughter and putting her in the freezer.

The 39-year-old mother of two boys, aged 10 and 4, feared her boyfriend's disapproval.

'He threatened to throw me out if I concealed another pregnancy from him,' she told the court.

Now, posters are being put up in cities and towns across Germany, urging women to make use of the baby-klappe.

The baby is put on a tray that slides through a hole in the wall and is gently lowered into a heated cot. An alarm bell alerts nursing staff - but only after the mother has been given sufficient time to make a getaway.

The baby can be reclaimed, usually up to three months later, should the mother change her mind.

Initial scepticism started to melt after a woman in eastern Germany was arrested for letting nine of her babies die. Some were buried in plant pots in her garden.

There are now some 90 baby drop-offs across the country. In Berlin alone, six babies have been pushed through slots since the scheme started in 2003.

But the baby-drop campaign has also drawn criticism: Some church representatives argue that it could actively encourage mothers to 'dump' their children, while others argue that the unwanted babies will lose their identity.

'Once they are handed off, these babies are almost immediately put up for adoption, and they'll never ever be able to trace their roots,' said Regula Bott, a member of an anti-baby-klappe group.

Professor Anke Rohde, a psychiatrist at the Medical University Clinic in Bonn, said the baby drops were no cure-all.

'This may be one way to deal with the problem, but certainly can't be the only way,' she told ABCNEWS.com.