Register for Mothers not using state law to protect unwanted babies
Legal IssuesDecember 11, 2003
2003 DEC 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the 3 years since Louisiana passed a law to let parents give unwanted babies anonymously to health or safety workers, not one has done so.
Instead, at least 11 newborns have been abandoned. Seven died.
The most recent was a boy wrapped in towels and left to die in a garbage bin. Kimberly Lauff, 23, was booked November 10, 2003, with first-degree murder of the baby. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.
It's unknown whether she knew of the safe haven law when she gave birth November 8 in a friend's upstairs bedroom in Kenner.
The discovery of the baby's body and her arrest have focused new attention on the law and on efforts to improve the original legislation. One problem is lack of money for publicity to let women know they can give unwanted babies to healthcare workers, law enforcement officers, or firefighters, said Anthony Ellis, spokesman for the state Office of Community Services.
"It's sort of difficult as far as getting the word out," he said.
Now, prompted by a 2003 revision that beefed up the law, Ellis' office is working to find ways to get the word out. Its partners in the project are the child advocacy group Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana, Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, and the Department of Health and Hospitals.
They want to promote the safe-haven option, educate the public and safe-haven employees, and make the process as easy and nonthreatening as possible, Ellis said. He said the group's first meeting, held in early November 2003, had been scheduled before Lauff's arrest.
State Rep. Glenn Ansardi, D-Kenner, sponsored the revised law, which went into effect in August 2003, in response to a study by a group of juvenile judges and work by child advocates.
Jefferson Parish Juvenile Judge Nancy Amato Konrad, who worked on the legislation, said that since 2000 there has been "a lack of an orderly system for delivering a baby safely to one of these facilities."
The law lets parents leave babies, no questions asked, at designated emergency care facilities within 30 days of birth. The places babies may be turned over include hospitals, public health units, doctors' offices, medical clinics, fire stations, police stations, pregnancy crisis centers, or child advocacy centers. In return for turning over the infants unharmed, the parents are not prosecuted. But they must hand the babies to an employee, not just leave them on the steps or on a counter.
"It's not considered relinquished if you don't put the baby in someone's hands," Ellis said.
Angela Vanveckhoven, director of communications for Prevent Child Abuse Louisiana, said parents who leave babies will be given cards with her group's telephone hot-line number. The organization also will train volunteers to handle safe haven issues.
"While we rather would not see a child abandoned, we would rather see the child turned over to someone and cared for and put up for adoption," she said.
In 1999, Texas became the first of at least 40 states to adopt a safe-haven law, after 13 babies were abandoned in the Houston area within a year. Once the law was advertised on billboards and television, four babies were turned over at safe havens in Harris County within 12 months.
Officials in Louisiana are hoping for similar results, but say touting the law won't necessarily boost the number of safe-haven babies.
"Unfortunately, even the states that have had expensive public relations campaigns to get the message out about safe-haven laws still tend to have situations like this, too, which has been disheartening," Ellis said.
Beth Manning, director of the outpatient clinic and social services at Woman's Hospital, said she thinks a publicity campaign will help decrease the number of babies abandoned in garbage bins and trash bags. The estimated cost of getting the word out is about $500,000; groups working on the project hope to get donations for much of that.
"Even if we save one or two lives, it's worth it in the long run," Manning said. This article was prepared by Women's Health Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
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