In recent decades, more and more cases of newborns being abandoned or found in dustbins have been reported in newspapers and on the television. The many complex reasons underlying this phenomenon are related to the problematic social and economic backgrounds of the mothers, and to the fact that women are often unaware of their rights and of the health and welfare services available to them. Behind such extreme acts are desperate women who often believe they have no other alternative, and who feel they have no way of looking after their baby in the situation or society they are currently living in or in the social group they belong to. Some may be illegal immigrants, terrified non-European citizens or even just young women from good families who want to keep their pregnancy and their baby a secret for fear of the scandal it would cause. In order to prevent infant mortality and abandonment, under current legislation in Italy, women can give birth anonymously, give up their child, and receive help and assistance without being judged. But even so, abandonment continues to be a social scourge.