Confidential birth

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The confidential birth is since 2014 statutory in Germany variant of anonymous birth .

On May 1, 2014, the law on expanding assistance for pregnant women and regulating confidential birth came into force in Germany. Women who do not want to give up their anonymity even after receiving psychosocial counseling can choose the confidential birth route.

On April 29, 2015, the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs announced that 95 women had taken the opportunity to give birth confidentially in the first year.

Legal position

The new section 25 (1) of the Pregnancy Conflicts Act stipulates: “A [...] pregnant woman who does not want to disclose her identity must be informed that a confidential birth is possible. Confidential birth is a delivery in which the pregnant woman does not reveal her identity [...]. "

The counseling center must provide evidence of the child's origin. To do this, the adviser, who is bound by the obligation to maintain confidentiality, records the woman's personal data so that the child can later find out his or her origin. When a confidential birth is notarized, the obstetrics facilities that are obliged to report the birth are released from their obligation to provide information and provide evidence, so that the mother's anonymity is protected. This special regulation of the obligation to provide information and evidence is laid down in Section 10 (4) of the Civil Status Act: "There is no obligation to provide information and evidence in the case of a confidential birth according to Section 25 (1) of the Pregnancy Conflict Act." Instead, the birth is reported under the mother's pseudonym. The federal government bears the costs for the birth as well as for pre- and aftercare.

The mother's parental custody is suspended as long as she does not give up her anonymity ( § 1674a BGB). The prerequisite for the return of the child to the mother is that she gives up her anonymity, her motherhood is unequivocally established and the family court determines that the best interests of the child are not impaired. If the child is given up for adoption , it can learn the identity of the birth mother at the age of 16. This possibility is based on the right of personality ( Article 2, Paragraph 1 in conjunction with Article 1, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law ), which includes the child's right to know his or her own parentage.

Procedure

Confidential birth means: women can give birth to their child medically safely and confidentially. You will be advised and accompanied by a consultant who is bound by statutory confidentiality: before and after the birth - if you wish.

The mother leaves her personal data in an envelope ( Section 26 Paragraph 3 SchKG), which is kept at the Federal Office for Family and Civil Society Tasks ( Section 27 SchKG). The child can view this data after its 16th birthday, provided the mother does not obtain further anonymity in court ( Section 31 (1) and (2) SchKG).

consultation

The law on confidential birth makes it possible for pregnant women to be advised, looked after and accompanied anonymously by a pregnancy counseling center before and after the birth . The Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth has set up the telephone “Pregnant in need - anonymous and safe”, which pregnant women can contact free of charge around the clock on 0800 40 40 020. The advice is multilingual, if necessary you can refer to one of the local advice centers.

Further regulations

A first step towards improving anonymous help for pregnant women has already been taken through the Federal Child Protection Act . The legal right to anonymous counseling has thus been extended to all counseling in connection with pregnancy ( Section 2 (1) SchKG). Until 2011, the legal entitlement only applied to conflict counseling.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Text, reasons and changes by the law to expand assistance for pregnant women and regulate confidential birth
  2. ↑ Important information in brief . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . April 30, 2015, p. 4 .