A new study by a French research institute specializing in demography and population studies, the Institut national d’études démographiques (INED), has found that more than 600 women a year give birth secretly, reports le quotidien du médecin.
The study identifies three main profiles for those mothers who choose to give birth in secret: young women dependent on their parents (25 percent), independent women (25 percent) and single women in difficult situations (15 percent).
The secret birth is chosen not only by very young women, as one-third were over 30 years and 16 percent were 35 or older.
Financial constraints often play a role as three out of four birth mothers are not financially independent. Often the women are surprised by the pregnancy, not realizing they are pregnant until they are in the third trimester.
Women who arrive at the adoption decision most quickly – 14 percent of mothers return the child within the statutory period of two months after birth – are those who have had to part with the child due to family obligations or financial constraints.
One in ten mothers abandoned the child due to health problems; for women these included depression, physical disability or serious illness, and occasionally due to the partner’s drug or alcohol addiction.
For 43 percent of the women, reasons for abandoning their child were related to the partner. Other reasons included financial difficulties, being too young, and fear of family rejection.
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