I absolutely do believe Nebraska needs a Safe Haven law. A few months ago a young woman gave birth at a local hospital, then abruptly left, abandoning her newborn in the safest place possible. I was furious when her picture was posted on the front page of the paper for all to see and point fingers at. If we all want to point fingers, let’s post photos of every parent, both male and female, who has abandoned his/her child in this great state. While it was a sad fact that this young mother left her baby without future plans (like a family through adoption), the child was safe and healthy and well-cared for.
You know what, perhaps I will buy newspaper space in the Journal Star if we don’t pass a Safe Haven Law. It will say:
MY FRONT PORCH IS A SAFE HAVEN. ALL BABIES WELCOME, DESIRED!, AT THE PRAIRIE BOX. MY NAME IS REBECCA, MY HUSBAND’S NAME IS JEREMY, AND WE WILL TAKE YOUR CHILD.
Oh wait. We’ve already said that once haven’t we… Well, there you have it. We will say it again.
5 Comments
kerri Sep 9, 2007 5:39 PM
I’m with you, Rebecca. I get mad when I read in the paper all the “reasons” we can’t do this or that. I was thinking the same thing: “Bring them to us! We’ll find homes for them!”
In the olden days, people left unwanted infants on the doorstep of the church, knowing they would be well cared for. How can the church (us) do this today? WE should be doing this, not ceding it to the state.
kristen Sep 9, 2007 8:11 PM
That’s unbelievable.
Jean & Mike Sep 9, 2007 8:49 PM
Why not do what this woman is doing, and go to your local town or county government and demand the passage of a local ordinance. You will have support for this nationwide!
Mom: City needs safe haven law
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2007/09/09/news/local/doc46e343872b511883338820.txt
By LORI PILGER and DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star
Sunday, Sep 09, 2007
It all started with an Oprah Winfrey show about a 15-year-old who killed her baby boy.
A former cheerleader and honor student told Winfrey, in an interview from prison, how she’d made a “terrible, terrible mistake” back in 1999.
She gave birth in her bedroom, hid the boy in the closet and went downstairs to eat with her family.
Not sure what to do, she put the boy in a duffel bag and gave him to her boyfriend the next day. The tiny boy’s body later was found in an Ohio quarry.
During the heartbreaking story, Deanna Weeks of Lincoln learned something surprising — Nebraska was one of just three states without a “safe haven” law.
It’s now one of two such states.
Since the Oprah show aired, lawmakers in Hawaii have passed a law providing safe places to take a newborn. Nebraska and Alaska now are the only two without a state law.
Two bills are pending in the Nebraska Legislature, though lawmakers aren’t moving quickly enough for Weeks, who says she’s just a concerned citizen with two children of her own.
“I can’t stand by and do nothing … while babies are dying,” she said.
Especially, she said, considering a 21-year-old allegedly abandoned her newborn at a Lincoln hospital and now faces a misdemeanor charge for it.
“Anyplace else this would have been legal,” she said. “And it should be.”
Last week, an 18-year-old woman left a newborn at an Omaha hospital, believing Nebraska did have a safe haven law, according to an attorney representing the woman. The Douglas County Attorney’s Office does not plan to charge the woman.
On Monday, during the “open mike session” of the Lincoln City Council meeting, Weeks will urge the council to pass a “Baby Safe Haven” city ordinance, as Boston, New York City and Mobile, Ala., have done, while waiting for state legislation.
In a letter to the City Council, she asked them to use Boston’s ordinance as a blueprint to establish a pilot program “and possibly save the life of a newborn who may be in jeopardy of an unsafe or deadly abandonment.”
Under her proposal, a newborn could be surrendered at hospitals or police and fire stations.
Lincoln City Attorney Dana Roper said there are problems with Weeks’ proposal — namely that the city can’t grant immunity from state prosecution.
“This would have to be modified considerably,” Roper said.
He’s not sure a city can force hospitals to take abandoned babies, either. Hospitals are businesses and could expect to be paid for such a service, he said.
Roper said the city could pass an ordinance requiring firefighters and police to take babies, though he assumes if someone left a baby with them now, they would take care of the child. Then there’s the issue of liability, he said. What if a baby were shaken before being given to an officer?
The proposal also requires pamphlets be distributed, which comes at a cost.
He said a modified, scaled-down version is possible, but the city would need to recognize the liability risk and costs.
City Councilwoman Robin Eschliman said she’d be willing to research the issue and try to figure out why something hasn’t been done yet.
“To me it would be a very interesting issue,” she said.
Weeks said if Lincoln passes a city ordinance, she’ll work to get the same city ordinance passed in Omaha, then move on to Beatrice and other towns in the area.
She said her hope is a state law will be passed soon, but lawmakers have told her it could take three years or more.
The city ordinances would just protect mothers and the babies in the meantime, Weeks said.
“This is happening all over our state,” she said.
Meg Robison Sep 10, 2007 3:16 PM
Unfortunately it seems like the media only focuses attention on the “here and now” issue of women leaving their babies at hospitals or hiding them in duffel bags and killing them. Then the discussion of a safe haven law spirals into who will pay, who will be responsible, etc., and the real issues are ignored yet again.
The major problems with these women (girls) started way earlier than the abandoning of their babies. Who was talking to them about the consequences of having unprotected sex in the first place? Who was providing them with a safe haven to disclose their clearly unwanted pregnancy? Who was providing them with their options and letting them know that there are many infertile couples out there who may want to adopt their babies? Did anyone notice their growing bellies??!!?? The girls’ parents? The boyfriends’ parents? The school? The church?
As a society we have to deal with the fact that, at some point, abandoning or killing their newborn babies became real, concrete, legitimate options in these girls’ minds. That is a frightening thing.
Yes, I agree, that these situations are terribly sad. It is also terribly sad to me that many, many people in these girls’ lives missed the boat by a long shot.
RT Sep 13, 2007 11:15 AM
> As a society we have to deal with the fact that, at
> some point, abandoning or killing their newborn
> babies became real, concrete, legitimate options in
> these girls’ minds. That is a frightening thing.
You’ve hit the nail on the head, Meg.