Born Under the X

The Convention on the Rights of the Child
Approved in 1989, entered into force in 1990:
Article 7

1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.

Elsewhere on the Web •The Angry Xs •The Court Case

In 1941, the pro-Nazi Vichy government of France enacted a law called Accouchment Sous X (Childbirth Under X). This law is still in force today and is at the center of a controversy that went as far as the European Court of Human Rights, as those "born under the X" seek to claim their identities. (The Court ruled against the petitioners.)

The Sous X law allows women to enter a public hospital and, in lieu of a name and any other personal information, use an "X" to conceal their identities and histories. The law also provides that women who legally "abandon" their children in this manner do not have to pay any hospital fees connected with the birth. Children "born under the X" become wards of the state and are eligible to be placed for adoption.

Since 1996, the law has included a provision that a woman who chooses Sous X can provide the state with her personal information in a sealed envelope to be given to her child at majority; however, there is no requirement to do so.

French sources estimate the number of children "born under the X" at 400,000.

Total Anonymity vs Privacy

There has been a great deal of discussion about the French law, about why it was enacted (to protect French women who had relationships with Nazis resulting in pregnancy?), about why it continues to be on the books (to protect women from "good" families from the stigma of an unwanted child? to prevent abortions?), and about the difference between permanent anonymity and family privacy.

According to published reports, France and Luxembourg are the only European countries to offer this degree of anonymity in a hospital birth. Italy and Greece also have laws allowing concealed identity, but search is permitted, and Germany has a program similar to U.S. "safe haven" programs called baby hatches. In the U.S., recent years have seen a growing popularity of laws and programs allowing legalized abandonment.

Opposing Views

In a December 17, 2002, editorial, "Adoption and Children of War: Privacy or Tragedy?", Dr. William Pierce (bio) of IAVAAN (former Exec. Director of the National Council for Adoption) voices his support of the Sous X (and other similar laws including "safe haven" laws in the U.S.), allowing women to totally and absolutely disassociate themselves from their children.

In his rebuttal, "Dr. Pierce and Vichy", adoptee rights advocate Ron Morgan explores the history of the law and takes issue with Dr. Pierce's position on "anonymous choice."

Recommended Reading:

• Crusade to find mother goes to human rights court; Abandoned at birth, a woman works to change a law giving French moms anonymity - Christian Science Monitor
  
• Germany Still Divided over the Idea of Baby Hatches - "A plan to help mothers who can't provide for their babies remains controversial 3 years after it was started. Advocates of 'baby hatches' say they save unwanted children, critics say they encourage infant 'disposal'." - DW World

In French
(Need an online translator? Try Babel Fish)

• L'accouchement sous X (Childbirth Under X) - discussion of the law, its provisions, and its violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
  
• Le droit de savoir (The right to know) - article originally published in Elle includes the observation that it's better to have a dead father than a living mother who relinquished under the Sous X law (recalling the case of a young man allowed by the court to obtain a DNA sample from the dead-and-buried Yves Montand for a paternity test).
  
• Accouchement sous X menacé (Childbirth Under X in Danger) - editorial supporting the law as a loving choice, and alternative to abortion.
  
• Accouchement sous X: symbole ou faits? (Childbirth Under X: symbol or fact?) - interesting discussion of the law, what it means and what it doesn't mean, including refuting the argument that born "under X" is the same as secrecy.

© Nancy S Ashe

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