Swiss help for mother and child
| Swiss Aid for Mother and Child (SHMK) |
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|---|---|
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| legal form | charitable foundation |
| founding | 1998 |
| founder | Dominik Müggler |
| Seat | Münchenstein BL ( ⊙ )
 |
| motto | Life needs friends. |
| main emphasis | Advice and financial help for women who are in need due to pregnancy |
| Action space |
Switzerland , Liechtenstein
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| Chair | Dominik Müggler (President) |
| Managing directors | Renato Corbella |
| sales | 3,135,763 Swiss Francs (2017) |
| Foundation capital | 476,845 Swiss Francs (2017) |
| Website | shmk.ch |
The Swiss Aid for Mother and Child (SHMK) is a non-profit and tax-exempt foundation founded in 2001. It provides free advice and help for women, couples and families who are in need due to pregnancy or childbirth. She also maintains baby windows at several hospitals .
The SHMK is worn and led by people from the life protection movement . According to the President of the Board of Trustees Dominik Müggler, she does not offer "open-ended" consultations, but rather rejects abortion as a solution to a pregnancy conflict. Müggler is also a founding member and current president of the Mamma Association , which has already launched federal popular initiatives on the subject of abortion.
The foundation is financed exclusively through private donations and bequests . Your annual budget is around 3 million Swiss francs. In 2018, it handled over 1,500 requests for assistance.
Advice offer
According to the foundation, advice is provided by specialists from social and medical professions, anonymously if desired. The foundation has been certified by ZEWO since 2008 ; the last certification took place in 2018.
The SHMK operates a continuously accessible advice and emergency call center in the three national languages of German, French and Italian which is active throughout Switzerland. In particular, persons residing in Switzerland or the Principality of Liechtenstein can turn to the SHMK.
The SHMK advertises on social media such as Instagram , which, according to a report by the Aargauer Zeitung from 2017, is presumably targeted to pregnant women.
Baby window
The SHMK is also known for the baby windows that it runs in cooperation with public and private hospitals. Their eight baby windows in Basel , Bellinzona , Bern , Davos , Einsiedeln , Olten , Sitten and Zurich help mothers in emergency situations to anonymously give their baby to medically supervised care. From the opening of the first baby window in 2001 to 2019, 24 babies across Switzerland were placed in the SHMK's baby window. The mother is not wanted. She can claim her baby back for at least a year, but this requires a DNA test and the decision on whether to return it to the parents is ultimately made by the authorities.
criticism
In August 2013, the weekly newspaper Die Zeit published a critical article in which, based on a self-experiment by a journalist, it was reported on SHMK counseling practices for unwanted pregnant women who are considering an abortion . As a result, the set SP - National Cédric Wermuth on 17 September 2013 parliamentary question in which he with reference to the reporting of the time complained, set the SAMC, "the clients apparently massive pressure", and the Federal Council wanted to know how he assesses the cooperation of public hospitals with the SHMK and how he wants to "prevent dubious advisory services in the future". The responsible Federal Councilor Alain Berset replied that the Federal Council shared the technical concerns of the national organization Sexual Health Switzerland (SGS), which had classified the partnerships with the SHMK as questionable. However, there is no legal basis for the federal government to prohibit private aid organizations and advice centers from operating or to impose regulations on hospitals.
The SHMK, for its part, rejected the allegations made at the time in a statement and emphasized that its advice was independent and professional. There is no advice center in Switzerland that makes such generous offers to women, couples or families as the SHMK. The President of the Foundation Council, Dominik Müggler, pointed out in particular the amount of financial aid given to women by the SHMK and the fact that the beneficiaries did not have to repay the aid.
Both the advisory services and the institution of the SHMK-operated baby hatches in public hospitals were accused in the media and by politicians, such as the Council of States and midwife Liliane Maury Pasquier , of neglecting the well-being of mothers and their needs in order to avoid abortions for help to ignore.
In a response from Federal Councilor and Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga to a parliamentary question by Maury Pasquier in January 2014, Sommaruga admitted "many unsolved problems with the baby windows", but noted a "clear demand for these facilities".
Also in January 2014, ZEWO considered withdrawing its seal of approval because of ethically questionable content on the SHMK's website. ZEWO set a deadline for the SHMK to remove content and wording that violated the dignity of the women addressed, and the certification was retained.
In connection with the SHMK's advertising on Instagram , Hildegard Pfäffli Murer, the head of the interdenominational counseling center elbe , supported by the Lucerne cantonal churches, complained that the SHMK's advertising strategy aims to “ create feelings of guilt in those affected, stirs up fear of psychological consequences and carries them off thus contributing to the further tabooing of termination of pregnancy », which increases the plight in the event of an unplanned pregnancy. SHMK Council President Müggler rejected this accusation as unfounded.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andreas Maurer: Anti-abortion opponents work in the background for their cause. In: basellandschaftlichezeitung.ch . January 5, 2014, accessed March 30, 2016 .
- ↑ Annual report 2017 (PDF; 938 KB) In: shmk.ch. Swiss Aid for Mother and Child, accessed on September 28, 2019 .
- ↑ Entry by the foundation on the ZEWO website , accessed on November 2, 2019.
- ↑ a b c Radical anti-abortion opponents hunt down insecure pregnant women on Instagram. In: aargauerzeitung.ch . May 18, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2018 .
- ↑ Vanessa Hann, Laura Bachmann: Stories and facts about the anonymous child transfer. Through the baby window into a new life. In: Blick.ch , November 1, 2019.
- ↑ Noah Zygmont: If you want your baby again, you have to have a DNA test. In: 20min.ch . August 27, 2018, accessed December 16, 2018 .
- ^ A b Sarah Jäggi: Baby window: "Hannah, we will help you" . In: The time . No. 36 , 29 August 2013 ( zeit.de ).
- ↑ Question Time. Question by C. Wermuth: Advisory services from radical anti-abortionists and cooperation with public hospitals. In: parlament.ch. National Council (Switzerland) , September 17, 2013, accessed on April 27, 2019 .
- ^ Official Bulletin National Council, autumn session 2013, eleventh session, 23 September 2013, 2:30 p.m., 13.5369. In: parlament.ch. National Council (Switzerland) , 23 September 2013, accessed on 27 April 2019 .
- ↑ Dominik Müggler: Statement from SHMK: “Our advice is more independent” . In: The time . No. 36 , 29 August 2013 ( zeit.de ).
- ↑ Marcel Amrein: Concerns about baby windows. In: nzz.ch . December 11, 2013, accessed March 30, 2016 .
- ↑ Sonia Fenazzi: The controversial boom of baby windows. In: swissinfo.ch . January 7, 2014, accessed March 30, 2016 .
- ^ Basil Weingartner: Aid organization for anti-abortionists puts seals of approval at risk. In: derbund.ch . January 18, 2014, accessed March 30, 2016 .