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Objectives To assess rates of neonaticide after the implementation of a preventative “anonymous delivery” law in mid-2001 in Austria. Women are allowed to access antenatal care and give birth in a hospital anonymously, without showing any ID and free of charge. Design Retrospective Study Setting A complete census of police-reported neonaticides was obtained from the police statistics of Austria, Sweden and Finland. Population All neonaticides reported to the police, 1991-2009. Main outcome measures Neonaticide rates pre- (1991-2001) and post- (2002-2009) anonymous delivery legislation per 100,000 births. Methods The Mann-Whitney U test for two independent samples was used to compare neonaticide rates during the pre-law period to the rates observed after the implementation of the new law for each country. Results On average the rate of police-reported neonaticides was 7.2 per 100.000 births (SD=3.5, median=7.1) in Austria prior to passage of the law and 3.1 per 100.000 births (SD= 2.1; median= 2.6) after passage of the law. A significant decrease in neonaticide was observed in Austria after the implementation of anonymous delivery (Mann-Whitney U test p=.017). Whereas the Finnish and Swedish rates were lower than the Austrian rates before and after the implementation of the Austrian law, they remained unchanged over the study period. Conclusion Our data demonstrate a significant decrease in the number of police-reported neonaticides in Austria after the implementation of anonymous delivery. Even though underlying factors associated with neonaticide are complex, the findings could indicate an effect of anonymous delivery in the prevention of this crime.

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The aims of this study are to assess the impact of Austria's anonymous birth law from the time relevant statistical records are available and to evaluate the use of hatches versus anonymous hospital delivery. This study is a complete census of police-reported neonaticides (1975-2012) as well as anonymous births including baby hatches in Austria during 2002-2012. The time trends of neonaticide rates, anonymous births and baby hatches were analysed by means of Poisson and logistic regression model. Predicted and observed rates were derived and compared using a Bayesian Poisson regression model. Predicted numbers of neonaticides for the period of the active awareness campaign, 2002-2004, were more than three times larger than the observed number (p = 0.0067). Of the 365 women who benefitted from this legislation, only 11.5% chose to put their babies in a baby hatch. Since the law was introduced, a significant decreasing tendency of numbers of anonymous births (p = 047) was observed, while there was significant increase of neonaticide rates (p = 0.0001). The implementation of the anonymous delivery law is associated with a decrease in the number of police-reported neonaticides. The subsequent significantly decreasing numbers of anonymous births with an accompanying increase of neonaticides represents additional evidence for the effectiveness of the measure.