The story of a newborn baby who was found on a Newton, Massachusetts
doorstep piqued my curiosity about laws concerning abandoned babies. In this
particular case, police wished that the woman or parents who abandoned the baby
had known about the Massachusetts
law that makes it legal to surrender babies at a “safe haven” (hospitals and
police or fire stations) in the first seven days of an infant’s life.
This got
me to wondering about the pros and cons of legalizing baby abandonment. The
overarching concern is clearly the baby’s survival, which is more likely if the child is left in a safe place. But does legalizing baby
abandonment mean that desperate mothers will be more likely to leave their newborns,
rather than seeking medical attention and going through the process of legal
adoption?
Nancy Larraine Hoffman, the legislator who
authored New York’s
uniquely forgiving abandoned baby laws, recently addressed these issues in an
op-ed. Here are the stats she presents about baby abandonment:
Most cases involve a teenager who may be a victim of
rape—almost certainly of statutory rape. She may have been in denial about the
pregnancy herself, and probably told no one if she did suspect she was
pregnant. She is overwhelmed with fear. The best chance to save the baby's life
is to show compassion for the mother, regardless of how irresponsibly she
acted. Threats to find and punish her will only push other girls away from help
and raise the risk that babies will not be found.
This is the thinking behind New York’s Abandoned Infant Protection Act,
which makes it legal for a mother to leave a baby in “any safe place.” Hoffman
argues that any mother in the position of abandoning her child is likely
terrified of authority figures, and will not go to one of the “safe havens”
that figure into many state’s abandoned baby laws. But if a woman is assured
that she will not be punished, she is likely to place the infant in a safe, populated place.
Hoffman argues that letting these young women off the hook
in exchange for saving a baby’s life is a “pretty good trade-off.”
What do you think? Does this law encourage child
abandonment or save lives?
Photo: BBC
Related Post:
Elderly Man Rescues Abandoned Baby
