Is infanticide better than adoption? Why don't safe abandonment stations work?
This question is in response to a sad news story out of Houston this week. A young mother of two went to the hospital with stomach pains she says she thought were ulcers. She goes into the bathroom at the hospital, delivers a six-week premature infant, sticks the infant in the garbage and goes home!
What is WRONG with this picture??? Texas has a "baby moses law" that means all she had to do to NOT be charged with a crime was take that infant out of the bathroom with her and tell the hospital staff she wished to abandon it. She needn't have even left her name with them!
I'm thinking maybe there needs to be a poster in all public restrooms that talks about the infant safe abandonment law the way all work places have to post FMLA and OSHA codes. What do you think would get the word out and convince mothers to not kill their babies? If a mother can attempt infanticide while INSIDE the hospital something is surely not working, but what could fix it?
Takeah2008-02-14T08:14:24Z
Favorite Answer
I think it's a great idea for the signs... do the mothers REALLY never get asked anything? or offered help? or be followed out?
I know it sounds horrible/terrible, but if they didn't have to see or talk to anyone it would be better- like a (and again, I hate to say something like this) but a safe drop-box at a private location where there are doctors on the other side to give immediate attention to the baby. someplace with no cameras, etc. I don't like it- but it's better than killing the baby.
I think here in Ontario, the good adoption agency is the Children's Aid Society. They adopt out children who are in foster care. We don't have agencies in the traditional sense in great amounts. I don't think I would ever have been comfortable going to an agency, but if we had here is what I would have looked for: 1. Most important (for me) is no religious affiliation. I don't want to be part of an anti-choice agency. 2. Training ingrained before you can become parents. This is not "how to be a parent" but training to better address the specific needs that come out of adoption. (grief, loss etc.) In Ontario we use PRIDE training. 3. OPen adoptions only I guess there could be more, but in reality these are what matter most to me.
Was she even aware she was pregnant before this baby suddenly appeared? It has been known to happen; could you imagine not realizing you're pregnant and then suddenly...out pops a baby??
You just don't know the circumstances that could lead to a woman doing such a thing. I'm not condoning it either, but you can't just sit there and say she did this with absolutely no feeling or remorse. People just don't DO this without some great, underlying reasons going on beneath the surface.
I agree with the premise behind the "Baby Moses" laws but as it's been already stated, the babies being dropped off at these stations aren't the babies that would otherwise be dropped in a garbage can or left in a cardboard box in the street. They are well cared for.
And with no questions asked, how DO we know who is taking these babies and dropping them off? Can we say, legalized kidnapping? Doesn't anyone realize the implications of this? Grandma or Daddy doesn't want that kid and when new mommy is dozing, bye-bye baby. Mother has NO recourse.
It's scary.
And what about the mother? Is she ok? Does she need medical attention? She could be somewhere hemorrhaging for christ's sake...
We NEED to start asking questions, making sure we KNOW who's dropping off these babies, we KNOW the mother is at least medically ok, mentally stable and SURE of this baby being dropped off, and you know, in the interest of the child, this legalized abandonment is NOT OK.
Medical history? Heritage and identity? Goodbye to EVERYTHING adoptees have been fighting and clawing for. But hey, that's ok...just be grateful he wasn't tossed in a dumpster, right? Pffffft.
I don't think infanticide is better, and I don't see it as a logical option.
That girl will probably have an easy time entering an insanity defense. Pregnant women have hormones running through them that can (apparently) cause them to make somewhat irrational decisions. I am not condoning this act.
I suspect that, now that the hormones have probably subsided, she is feeling the full force of this act. I would not wish that pain on anyone!
I have read of four "safe haven" style abandonments in the past few months. In every single story, the person who dropped off the baby was either too old or the wrong ethnicity to be the mother, or even admitted outright that they weren't the mother.
I hope no one here has a nasty MIL or babysitter who might think this would be a great way to get rid of a crying baby, no questions asked.