IN AN EFFORT to prevent mothers from abandoning their newly born children, the Health Ministry has included a clause in the cabinet-tailored draft bill on healthcare and health insurance amendments that would enable women to anonymously give birth to a child in Slovak healthcare facilities.
The spokesperson for the Health Ministry, Mário Mikloši, said that this amendment should serve to protect the mother, as well as the life and health of the child.
MPs are expected to decide on Health Ministry amendments as early as September.
The draft bill to cover family issues, prepared by the Justice Ministry in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family should resolve the issue of anonymous births as well.
In February, Health Minister Rudolf Zajac declared that he likes the idea of enabling women to give birth to children anonymously, but that he wants to examine whether this idea can work given the current conditions in Slovakia.
According to him, the change would enable women who do not want to keep custody of their children to abandon them legally.
