Nine women have utilized a "confidential birth" system started a year ago by Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto, which requires them to only disclose their identity to one hospital staff member.

Jikei Hospital is the only hospital in Japan to offer such a system.

The Asahi Shimbun interviewed one of the women, the first interview of anyone who has used the system, with a hospital staff member present.

The young woman talked about her circumstances leading up to the birth of her child, her need for anonymity and how she feels about the baby.

BACKED INTO A CORNER

The teenager, who lives in a regional city, discovered she was pregnant one week after she missed her period, which had been regular.

She was shocked as she thought she and her boyfriend had used contraception.

At the same time, she thought, “I have to hide this from my parents.”

She grew up being beaten. Her parents divorced when she was in elementary school.

When she tries to recall painful memories or hurtful words they threw at her, her recollection becomes opaque likely because her mind is automatically trying to erase such experiences.

She was once temporarily sheltered at a child consultation center after running away from home and going to the police.

She has always been fearful of her parents, so she felt she couldn’t tell them about the pregnancy.

Her boyfriend, who is older than her, said, “We will raise the baby,” when she told him she was pregnant, but after about a week, he disappeared.

She called many hospitals seeking to have an abortion.

She gave up on the idea, however, after some hospital officials said, “Your parents need to pick you up after the abortion,” or “You should speak to your parents about your pregnancy.”

She then called the number of a consulting service that she’d found online after using search words such as “cannot raise a child.”

However, she was told again, “The only option for you is to tell your parents about your pregnancy.”

She wished she would miscarry without her knowing it, but her stomach was gradually growing larger.

Then, she started feeling fetal movements.

“I didn’t like it when the baby moved because that made me realize the baby was really there. I wanted the baby to get smaller,” she said.

She hid her growing stomach by tightening a belt or wearing oversized clothes.

She avoided being at home by staying at friends’ homes.

Her parent didn’t say anything.

The teenager thought she could raise the child on her own, but she changed her mind because she thought it would be impossible without everyone finding out about it.

She once thought she would kill her baby and herself, too.

When six months or so passed after finding out she was pregnant, she searched online for “confidential birth”--words she had come across somewhere.

That was how she found Jikei Hospital.

As she learned she could consult with the hospital’s staff members anonymously, she called its toll-free number.

After speaking with the hospital’s consultant several times, she was encouraged to come to the institution in Kumamoto.

The consultant didn’t ask for her name.

She thought it was her only option because she wanted to go to a hospital before she miscarried or prematurely gave birth, which would have told those around her about her pregnancy.

She made up an excuse to her parent and flew to Kumamoto.

She took a test at the hospital and was ensured she had a baby.

“I felt relieved about coming to the hospital without my parents knowing about my pregnancy, not about having kept my baby safe,” she said.

As she spent days at the hospital and talked to the consultant, she relaxed.

She started to slightly like the fetal movements for the first time.

SILENT APOLOGY TO BABY

Her labor was difficult, and she often screamed in pain, but she gave birth to a healthy baby.

She hadn’t planned to see the baby because she thought if she did, she would miss the newborn afterward.

But several days after giving birth, she told the hospital she wanted to see the baby.

She doesn’t know why she changed her mind.

When she met her child, she thought the baby was cute, but she still thought she couldn’t tell her parents about giving birth.

She silently apologized to her baby for not revealing her name.

The teenager only disclosed her name to Makoto Hasuda, the head of the hospital’s office for consultations about newborns.

She left a photocopy of her ID at the hospital.

She also named the baby and wrote a letter for the newborn before leaving the hospital.

She agreed to be interviewed because she thought about women who give birth alone at home to hide their pregnancies.

“I felt sad thinking there are women who suppress their screams when in pain while giving birth,” she said.

She said she wanted to let women who are struggling because of their pregnancies know about the confidential birth system at Jikei Hospital.

She keeps in touch with Hasuda to consult with her about her baby and her own future.

Many pregnant women are left on their own, like this teenage woman was, without any options to talk to their parents about their pregnancies.

Hasuda said such women contact Jikei Hospital daily. They say, “I have no money to have an abortion,” or “I can’t rely on my family,” according to Hasuda.

In the case of the first woman to participate in the system, she wanted her baby to be put up for adoption.

Yasunori Kashiwagi, a professor of education study at Chiba Keizai College and an expert on the confidential birth system, said, “Right now, the support and consultation system for pregnant women only says to them, 'You need to talk to your parents.'"

“That doesn’t help women who desperately want anonymity.”