In many countries, anonymous births have been legalized for centuries in order to prevent formerly frequent killings of newborn children, particularly outside of marriage.
In an anonymous birth, the mother's right of informational self-determination severely curtails the children's right to know about their biological ancestry, therefore going beyond the concept of a confidential birth, where the identity of the mother is registered but remains undisclosed, unless the grown up child requests disclosure at a later point.
Within beginning of the 21st century, nations proposing the policy of anonymous birth, along with baby hatches, have been Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.
In addition, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Russia, and Ukraine, allow mothers to keep their identity private.
[5] In France the tradition of anonymous births can be traced to 1638 when Vincent de Paul who instituted the tour, a form of baby hatch.
By 1860 the system of baby hatches called tours were all closed, and the practice was officially abolished in 1904 in favor of other pro-birth policies between 1870 and 1945.
In the 1940s, the official birth certificates in France recorded "sous X" meaning born under X in the place of their biological mother.
In 1960s waiting periods were extended to three months, health and social aid offices opened, and birth control was publicized by law.
The system of anonymous birth lasted in Sweden until 1917 when the child's right to know and be supported by mother was decided.
[9] In the late 1990s and early 2000s the proposal of legal legislation for the system of anonymous birth in Germany was brought.
The Court ruled that, given that the recently created National Council on Access to Information about Personal Origins presented an avenue to contact the birth mother in a controlled way, the state had attempted to strike a sufficient balance between the competing rights; the application was therefore denied.