Polish Catholics are defending hatches where unwanted babies can be left. But they can do more harm than good

Over the last six years, the Polish branch of the Catholic charity Caritas has installed 50 baby hatches across the country. These hatches (heated boxes in the walls of hospitals and religious buildings where mothers can safely abandon their babies) have saved over 40 children in that time – but they are now under threat. In June the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child caused outrage when it protested that baby hatches violated article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which states that every child has “the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents”. Now the committee is taking the issue to the European parliament, provoking Caritas Poland to speak out passionately in defence of the hatches it has branded Okna Życia (“windows of life”)…

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