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Safe Newborn

cranston36

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The Washington State ‘Safe Newborn’ law has no statistics to go along with it.

If you want you can drop off your baby within three days of birth at any hospital and leave.
Kids in school that at one time could push their ignorant and aggressive boyfriends away with statements about using birth control and not wanting to end up with an abortion can now go ahead, expose themselves to sexually transmitted diseases, get pregnant, have the baby and hand it over to some public hospital.
What happens to that baby?
Is it adopted by religious groups or does it become the ‘ward of the state’?
It is a bizarre and sickening development that hospitals, which don’t even provide reasonably priced services for Americans, should now become foundling hospitals.
It is typical of our broken down government that they would pass a law like this without addressing the root causes of the problems.
In the end women that destroy their newborns will continue to do so because that is a situation that is far beyond the remedy provided by this ‘feel good’ law.
Children will go to bed hungry in Washington State and their parents will do without health care because doctors and hospitals are so greedy that they have priced themselves out of the market.
Insurance companies will continue to feed off the poor and the government will bow to them.
Add abandoning children without fear of retribution to the deep pool of sins that this society swims in.
 
I think it's a good law. I'd rather see a baby dumped at a Hospital or fire station than a dumpster. I'd definitely rather a baby got dropped somewhere safe vs getting abused or dying from shaken baby syndrome. Plus with the so many unwanted pregnancies ending in abortion it has become almost impossible to adopt a healthy baby unless you have tons of money to buy one from another country. So if someone drops off a baby that they can't take care of and it becomes a gift to an infertile couple, god bless it!
 
Show me the statistics for how many children have been saved by this law or how many drug addicts know that it exists or would even care to refer to it in the depths of their despair?

What happened to our laws against drugs?
Illegal immigration?
Equal rights in voting?

This 'law' is a joke and an insult to all but the naive among us.

When was the last time someone in your family took advantage of this law and abandoned a baby of your own blood and line at a public building?

By the way - when was the last time you checked on the statistics of success for the state sponsored orphan or child welfare programs?
 
This OP gets around, doesn't it?
http://english.ohmynews.com/TALK_BACK/bbs_view.asp?ba_code=63&bb_code=277640

http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cach...+Newborn"+statistics&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=5


As for a response:
How prevalent is newborn abandonment in the United States?

Unfortunately, no one has a definitive answer to this question. The federal government and most states do not keep statistics specific to abandoned newborns and there is presently no way to determine what portion of infant homicides are due to abandonment

According to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, 32 to 34 infants were found abandoned each year from 1997-1999.

In the 12 months before Texas passed safe havens legislation, 33 babies were discovered abandoned. According to a CNN review of FBI statistics, nearly five infants under the age of one are killed in the U.S. each week.

However:

Laws in California and 41 other states meant to save the lives of unwanted babies are not working, according to a study released by a New York think tank.

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a group that seeks to improve adoption policies, said it found no evidence of a decline in the number of babies abandoned illegally since the laws went into effect.

A spokeswoman for California's Department of Social Services claimed the study was flawed because it lacked accurate statistics. Blanca Castro said no one kept statistics on abandoned babies before 2001.

According to Castro, 20 babies have been legally abandoned since California's safe haven law took effect in January 2001. However, 88 babies have been abandoned illegally, resulting in the death of 20 of them.

and:
After 13 infants were abandoned in the Houston, Texas, area within a 10-month period in 1999, state lawmakers acted to encourage desperate parents to leave their children in a safe location rather than simply abandoning them. Since the Texas law was adopted, 34 more states have enacted so-called "safe haven" laws. All the statutes generally promise that women who relinquish unharmed infants in designated safe places will not be prosecuted or provide that abandonment in compliance with the law constitutes an affirmative defense to prosecution.

So far, the effects of the new laws appear to be limited. Although some newborns have been left at hospitals or police and fire stations, others continue to be found in unsafe places. Serious concerns remain regarding the general lack of research on abandoned babies and their mothers, the implications of these laws on states' adoption and child welfare practices, the rights of the infant's father and the relatively small number of infants involved. Some child welfare experts have expressed concern that the laws do not include an examination of existing statewide child abuse prevention strategies and services for women at risk.

SNIP

Approximately 33 babies have been legally relinquished including five each in Texas, Michigan and Alabama, six in New Jersey, four in California, two in Connecticut, Minnesota and Ohio and one each in Kansas and South Carolina. The numbers are approximate because officials in several states reported that they are not officially tracking the numbers of infants or that they had unofficial media counts of infants. Officials in New York, West Virginia and Florida reported that they were not sure that any infants had been relinquished because their laws do not require reporting or tracking that information.

Unfortunately, safe haven legislation has not prevented all cases of unlawful abandonment. Texas reported at least 12 infants have been abandoned illegally since the passage of its law, but the abandonments occurred before the start of a public awareness campaign. None have been abandoned outside safe havens since this publicity. Louisiana reported that five infants have been abandoned illegally since passage of its law. Three babies died, and the parents are being prosecuted. At least five babies were illegally abandoned in California; two more of them were found dead. In Connecticut, one baby was discarded near a highway. Three babies have been abandoned illegally in Colorado. In one case, the mother is attempting to regain custody. Michigan reported nine attempts including one in which a judge ruled that the case was not a safe haven surrender because the parents had not been given enough information on their legal rights.
 
How much more would you be willing to pay in taxes each year to feed all the children in the United States three square meals a day?

10 percent?
15 percent?
20 percent?
 
cranston36 said:
How much more would you be willing to pay in taxes each year to feed all the children in the United States three square meals a day?

10 percent?
15 percent?
20 percent?
None. None, should be an option.
 
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