Pro-Life Issues
Safe Haven Laws
Unfortunately, the problem of new mothers abandoning their babies, typically in unsafe places where they may not be found, is not uncommon. Although the exact numbers are not known, a survey of the HHS Administration for Children and Families found that 65 babies were abandoned in public places in 1991 and 105 in 1998. They also found that 8 of those infants were found dead in 1991, which increased to 33 in 1998.
In response to these abandonment cases, which included a group of 13 babies abandoned in Houston in 1999, Texas lawmakers adopted a Safe Haven law (sometimes called a 'Baby Moses Law') so that mothers could leave a baby in a safe place without having to worry that they would be prosecuted.
Now nationwide, all 50 states have Safe Haven laws, with Alaska and Nebraska enacting their own Safe Haven laws in 2008. Controversy has arisen out the Safe Haven law enacted in Nebraska in July 2008. The Nebraska law has been interpreted to define a child as anyone under 18, and has resulted in the desertion of teenage children. The law was changed in November 2008, allowing infants up to thirty-days old to be abandoned. Thirty-six children were dropped off in Nebraska hospitals in a four month span. None were infants.
Safe Haven laws vary from state to state, but in general, Safe Haven laws allow a parent to anonymously leave an unwanted newborn baby in a safe place, such as a hospital, emergency medical services, police station, or fire station, and not have to worry about getting in trouble. The baby will then be given to the state's child welfare department. ('In general' is used to stress the fact that the laws regarding the age of the infant and who may drop off the child vary widely from state to state.)
The National Council for Adoption estimates that by February 2008, more than 1,000 newborns nationwide have been placed safely under Safe Haven laws, and this number includes only the documented cases in 36 of the 48 states that had enacted such laws at the time of the study. The organization believes further study of Safe Haven laws is needed because many states with Safe Haven policies have not accurately monitored or documented the number of infants safely relinquished, and data to measure usage and effectiveness of Safe Haven programs are lacking. In addition, states would benefit from studies of at-risk parents, which might lead to more effective messages that would reach these parents before abandonment takes place.
References:
Child Welfare Information Gateway, http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/safehaven.cfm
National Council for Adoption, https://www.adoptioncouncil.org/index.html
