Hope for women with unexpected pregnancies

Chiisana Inochi no Doa (Door for a Little Life or DFLL) opens its doors 24 hours a day, seven days a week for women experiencing difficulty with an unexpected pregnancy or raising a baby. Founded in September 2018 in Kobe City by Ikuko Nagahara, a maternity nurse from Manna Maternity Clinic, and Yoriko Nishio, a public health nurse, DFLL has received over 22,000 requests for assistance.

It all started when a suggestion was made to Nagahara to set up a place where women could anonymously leave their baby if they became unable to take care of it. When this idea did not take off, Nagahara went to Germany where the concept of a ‘baby hatch’ is common—a discrete hatch on the side of a care facility where parents can leave their babies as a last resort. She learned that women in Hamburg don’t actually leave their babies at the hatch, but simply enter the main door carrying their baby and ask for consultation. This opened Nagahara’s eyes. She could address the well-being of both a baby and its mother with a specialized facility.

Thus DFLL began. No medical or consultation fee is charged and secrecy is strictly protected. DFLL is for women who are afraid during their pregnancy, who are pregnant but have no one to consult with, and who are experiencing difficulty raising their baby.

In 2020, they opened a maternity home called Musubi, adjacent to Nagahara’s maternity clinic. Musubi is where women can stay, deliver, and nurse the baby until they leave and start a new life. Ten staff and volunteers support the home’s operation. When a woman enters the door of DFLL for the first time, an on-duty member greets her with thanks for her courage in coming to them.

Nagahara hopes that facilities like DFLL will multiply within Japan. She has also been arguing for the law to provide pregnant women and newborn babies with greater protection. Securing employment for women with babies is another challenge that she hopes to tackle. Nagahara has seen many women enter the door of DFLL in tears. She feels happy when she sees them off at the end of their stay with a smile. You can read more about DFLL in a book published in 2021.¹ 

From Christian Shimbun, January 2/9, 2022
Translated by Atsuko Tateishi

1. Nagahara Ikuko 永原郁子, and Nishio Yoriko 西尾和子, 小さないのちのドアを開けて　思いがけない妊娠をめぐる6人の選択 [Open the door for a little life: choices by six women with unexpected pregnancies] (Tokyo: Word of Life Press Ministries, 2021).
All photos submitted by Christian Shimbun