Some argue that these baby boxes have helped Finland achieve one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates - and now the idea is spreading to the UK

For the past 75 years, Finland's expectant mothers have been given a box by the state – a starter kit of clothes, sheets and toys. With the mattress in the bottom, the box even becomes a baby's first bed! Many children, from all social backgrounds, have their first naps within the safety of the box's four cardboard walls.

Last week BBC News Online's The Magazine reported:

Nearly three years ago, the Magazine reported on the Finnish baby box - a starter kit of clothes, sheets and toys the state gives to expectant mothers. The story went viral and was read by 10 million people in 18 months. Now the box idea itself is spreading around the world.

One of the world's lowest infant mortality rates

The report goes on:

It has been credited with helping Finland achieve one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates ... The Finnish government says it is aware of the global interest in their baby boxes and often provides consultation to other countries. It now gives presentations at embassies around the world.

The original 2013 BBC report explained:

In the 1930s Finland was a poor country and infant mortality was high - 65 out of 1,000 babies died. But the figures improved rapidly in the decades that followed.

Mika Gissler, a professor at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, gives several reasons for this - the maternity box and pre-natal care for all women in the 1940s, followed in the 60s by a national health insurance system and the central hospital network.

Spreading worldwide

The BBC also reports:

There are dozens of projects under way in US states, but the biggest will launch later this year in Fort Worth, Texas, when all four of the city's hospitals start handing out baby boxes in an attempt to bring down the high infant mortality rate of 7.1 per 1,000 births in 2013.

The popularity of both the baby boxes and the BBC report which went viral shows the innate attractiveness of bringing new life into the world. This story of light and hope is in stark contrast to the story of darkness and despair which is abortion. Diligent health officials and clever entrepreneurs are saving babies after birth worldwide at the same time that other officials and entrepreneurs are bankrolling the deaths of millions of babies before birth.

Life is beautiful

How can the BBC be (rightly) proud of the success of its report, whilst at the same time be a mouthpiece and a partner with the abortion industry? How can people at Christmastime sing Away in a Manger ("Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head") and at the same time insist that it’s right that hundreds of babies a day are killed and never allowed to see a cradle?

There are many possible answers to that question, including the effect of pro-abortion propaganda, the difficulty for society to admit the scale of the abortion horror and compartmentalisation in people’s consciences. But whatever the causes of such cognitive dissonance, we must never fail to challenge misanthropy - a pessimism about ability of human beings to flourish. Misanthropy is not only one of the roots of abortion, but also of assisted suicide, euthanasia, and population control. Life is beautiful - and the story of the baby boxes proves it.