News of Doom 2.0 - Safe Haven Laws

Teen gives birth then walks to hospital

nospam@example.com (Trench Reynolds) — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:09:18 -0400

California teen gives birth in shower, walks to hospital:
This story was sent to me by reader Anon. While it's not a News of Doom story it's not quite an News of Un-Doom story either. On the one hand it shows that not all pregnant teens are dumping their babies. On the other hand it does show the problem with teens keeping pregnancies secret. Anyway on to the story...

17-year-old Xochitl Parra gave birth to her so Alejandro in secret at her home last week. Instead of trying to somehow dispose of the baby she walked four blocks to the hospital with the baby still attached to the umbilical cord. The only thing that would have made that story better is if she had to walk through snow but alas this happened in California.

Mother and baby are doing fine and Xochitl's mother is now accepting of her daughter's situation.

In a more perfect world parents wouldn't be so threatening of their children when faced with this kind of situation. But in a really perfect world teens wouldn't have to face that situation at all.

Safe Haven awareness in Ill.

nospam@example.com (Trench Reynolds) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 07:55:25 -0400

Raising Awareness for Abandoned Babies:
I'm not a fan if Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich for personal reasons. I will however have to tip my hat to him for trying to make the people of Illinois more aware of the safe haven laws in their state.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has declared today, April 8, 2008, an awareness day for the state statute.

In Pekin... signs are posted at the city's fire stations.

The signs are mandated by a 2007 amendment to Illinois' safe haven law.

A fire station, police station or hospital are legal places a parent can hand over a newborn that is up to seven days old.

The baby must be given to a staff person on duty.

Thank you Governor Blagojevich for hopefully raising awareness and saving the lives of unwanted babies.

UPDATE: The governors of Colorado and Tennessee also did their share for awareness as well.

More news on Safe Haven Laws

nospam@example.com (Trench Reynolds) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:28:37 -0400

Safe Haven Laws Far-Reaching, But Remain Problem-Ridden:
This is a great article about safe haven laws from The Bulletin in Philadelphia. However it doesn't address whether or not the laws are publicly well known enough.

In case you haven't noticed I'm trying to do my share by adding a link to a safe haven resource website up there in the Navigation Bar of Doom.

Don't worry. This isn't going to turn into the News of Safe Haven but it is a topic that is going to have a bigger focus on it from now on.

Thanks to all who sent me links to your states' laws.