Germany has around 200 places where a mother can either leave her baby—heated “baby hatches”, usually with an alarm to summon a carer—or where she can give birth anonymously.
Since their introduction in Hamburg in 2000, such refuges have taken charge of around a thousand babies that might otherwise have been given away less carefully.
But there is a problem: abandoning children is illegal.
Hmm… “Choice” too far gone?