http://assembly.coe.int/Main.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta08/ERES1624.htm

Preventing the first form of violence against children: abandonment at
birth

Resolution 1624 (2008)1

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1. The Parliamentary Assembly is aware that the abandonment of
children, particularly newborn babies, has always existed and always
will. There will always be mothers in distress who feel they have good
reasons to abandon their child at birth (denial of pregnancy,
pregnancy outside marriage or at an early age, poverty, HIV/AIDS,
etc). In the past, certain east European states also had policies
which “institutionalised” the abandonment of babies or which
encouraged parents experiencing difficulties to hand their babies over
to the state; traces of these policies can be found in the attitudes
of the public and maternity hospital staff.