Earlier this month, the Children and Family Agency released statistics about child abuse in Japan. In 2022, 72 children died as the result of “abuse,” two fewer than in 2021. However, in recent years this statistic has remained pretty much the same with only slight fluctuations, and according to an agency official quoted in an Asahi Shimbun report on the statistic, the number 72 “is still a big problem.”

The term “abuse” in this case should be qualified. Of the 72 deaths of persons under the age of 16, 56 perished of “abuse that did not involve group suicide,” meaning 16 children died at the hands of a parent or parents who committed suicide along with their children, and since minors are not considered to have agency under such circumstances, they were effectively murdered. Breaking the number down further, 25 of the children were less than 1 year old when they died of abuse, and 9 “were killed” on the day they were born. All of these nine babies were “abandoned,” though it isn’t clear from the Asahi report if the children died of actual violence or neglect. Five of the babies were “abandoned by the mother,” one by “both parents,” and the circumstances of the remaining three are unknown. As far as the agency can tell, six of the mothers of these abandoned children had never been examined by a physician while they were pregnant, and 7 were not in possession of the Mother and Child Handbooks that are routinely given to expectant mothers by medical institutions. In only one case did the agency determine that the mother consulted some form of authority about her pregnancy. 

The agency’s comment on these statistics acknowledges that some pregnant women and girls need “support” due to poverty or the fact that the pregnancy was unplanned, but doesn’t really offer any solutions. Asahi talked to the head of a psychiatric hospital in Kumamoto Prefecture that works with women who have been convicted of killing and/or abandoning their babies after giving birth alone. The doctor said that such women have a “lower ability to adjust to normal social situations,” a condition known as borderline personality disorder, and tend to have weak or no connections with family and no interaction with authorities, which they don’t tend to trust anyway. A few have been prostitutes, but in any case the “struggles” of these women need to be better understood.

An NHK report on the same statistical findings went into more detail, conveying that the agency did declare that it would strengthen its “support” for pregnant women who are not prepared to have children due to poverty or their “psychological state,” though the agency didn’t elaborate on how they would do this. For background, NHK talked to an organization in Fukuoka that provides support for pregnant women and girls who live alone. Many if not all of these persons are acutely anxious about giving birth, and the organization provides shelter and meals to those who need it. The organization, which runs a facility, also has social workers, midwives, and child care experts available for consultation 24 hours a day. Three years ago, it addressed 433 cases, 554 two years ago, and 428 last year. Among the problems that these women and girls face is a reluctance to inform parents about their pregnancy; difficulty in getting out of an abusive relationship; no one to confide in about the pregnancy; no money for medical services (pregnancy care and abortion are not covered by national insurance); precarious living conditions; and no job prospects.

The organization gave NHK some examples of recent cases it has handled. In one, a woman in her 20s gave birth in the bathroom of her home while her parents were out. She contacted the organization through DM on a social media platform and was told what to do to keep the baby safe while the organization dispatched an ambulance. Though this particular incident seemed to end without tragedy, the organization admits it has its work cut out for it. In the four years since it opened its facility, only 20 women have come there for shelter despite the large number of who have sought advice from its staff, so the issue is how to extend “practical support” to women and girls who are emotionally averse to taking advantage of such support. The manager of the facility told NHK that this lack of response doesn’t mean there is a “mismatch” between these women’s needs and what the organization can offer, but it isn’t clear how such organizations can effectively reach pregnant women who are in a desperate place. In most cases these women are young and unprepared, and simply want the problem to go away without anyone finding out. One university professor who is an expert on child abuse told NHK that the statistics may only represent a tip of the iceberg. Most women and girls who hide their pregnancies are invisible to the authorities and organizations who are there to help them. Just reaching them is the most difficult task. 

The reason for this difficulty isn’t hard to understand if you think about it. As the professor says, the abandonment of a baby is considered by society to be the “sole responsibility” of the mother, meaning the father and anyone else involved is let off. Whatever their educational level, these women understand this much just by being alive and aware of the society around them. The professor advocates for more “anonymous” care, because the humiliation and shame these girls and women experience is real and potentially dangerous, for themselves and their babies. Most likely they grew up in an environment where the authorities were not trusted and the parents were not supportive. “The system must adjust to this kind of anonymous care,” said the professor.