KAB Kumamoto Asahi Broadcasting
KAB’s 35th anniversary special project “Connecting Lives”: Thinking about the future of secret childbirth and the way mother and child support should be
A close look at Jikei Hospital, which is the only hospital in Japan to introduce “secret childbirth,” including testimonies from those involved in secret births.
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Kumamoto Asahi Broadcasting Co., Ltd. (Head office: Nishi-ku, Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture, President and CEO: Keisuke Takeuchi) will be holding a special project “Connecting Lives” on Saturday, May 25, 2024 from 1:30 p.m. to celebrate the 35th anniversary of KAB’s opening. Broadcast.
broadcast content
[Image 1: https://prtimes.jp/i/85285/62/resize/d85285-62-c1faad01891a41e82859-0.jpg&s3=85285-62-597af344e98a505da37ff208761e7d57-1920×1080.jpg] What does it mean to connect lives?
In December 2021, a baby was born in Japan’s first “secret birth”. Secret childbirth is a system in which women who are unable to disclose their pregnancy to those around them due to various circumstances can give birth without revealing their identity to anyone other than the hospital. Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto City is the only hospital in Japan to introduce this system in order to prevent isolated births. .
[Image 2: https://prtimes.jp/i/85285/62/resize/d85285-62-7897d6ae4bc6c609ece5-1.png&s3=85285-62-7285aa93f118477a72df3c4257dbe564-1920×1080.png ]
Hospitals are constantly receiving SOS calls from isolated women. What exactly is behind it?
One woman who actually gave birth in secret talked about being physically abused by her parents from an early age and the intense fear that her parents would find out about her pregnancy. The local pregnancy counseling center only encouraged me to tell my parents about my pregnancy, but could not offer any concrete solutions. Abortion was not an option for her, and at one point she was only thinking about killing her unborn baby and abandoning it.
[Image 3: https://prtimes.jp/i/85285/62/resize/d85285-62-372c4767fa0fadaa197e-1.png&s3=85285-62-ca475931197fb717466b2e7ec9d56db8-1920×1080.png ]
Concerning secret births, there are criticisms such as the inability to connect mothers with public support, and issues such as how to guarantee the right to know the child’s origin. However, the number of cases continues to pile up, and there is no end to the cases in which infants die as a result of unplanned pregnancies.
Jikei Hospital Director Ken Hasuda emphatically states, “Babies are not guilty or responsible,” but there is still no path to legal reform in Japan.
As the country promotes support for children and child-rearing, calling it “another dimension,” what is the state of society? Thinking through the testimonies of those who gave birth in secret.
[Image 4: https://prtimes.jp/i/85285/62/resize/d85285-62-422aee9438440a53c921-1.png&s3=85285-62-7da4462e3887293eef3e1597408595b8-1920×1080.png ]
Program overview
“Connect lives”
Broadcast date and time: Saturday, May 25, 2024 from 1:30 p.m. Broadcast area: Kumamoto local
Performers: Jikei Hospital Director Ken Hasuda and others
Narration: Sahel Rose
Official website: https://www.kab.co.jp/tsunaide/
★After the broadcast ends, it will be released on KAB’s official YouTube channel “KAB NEWS” and will also be streamed on TVers. More details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000062.000085285.html