2________
WcdiNEsdAy, ApRil 17, 2002
Safe haven law opens
arms for infants
ERINN LERTEN
Opinion Editor
Editor-in-Chief:
Maggie Jirasek
(x2447)
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Salena De La Cruz
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A & E Editor:
Daisy Bain
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(x2578)
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(x2310)
The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an
honest, unbiased, professional manner. The opin
One of the most tragic sto
ries covered by today’s media
is that of newborns abandoned
in Dumpsters, along the side of
the road or in a variety of life
threatening situations. Re
cently a baby found buried in
the sand on the Oregon coast
has brought the issue of child
abandonment under further
scrutiny by the media and the
public.
Oregon’s safe haven law
(Senate Bill 199), which was
passed in 2001, allows parents
to drop off children at ap
proved “safe haven” locations.
Safe havens include hospitals,
birthing centers, physicians’
offices, sheriffs’ offices and
police stations. The law states
that a parent may leave an in
fant in the care of one of these
facilities if the child is 30 days
or younger and has no evi
dence of abuse. It goes on to
state that the parents are not
required toprovide any identi
fying information about them
selves or the infant.
Opponents of Oregon’s law
claim that it contradicts Mea
sure 58, which allows adult
adoptee’s access to original
birth records. The argument is
that with no original birth
records, children turned in un
der the safe haven law will not
be able to find out who their
birth parents are. However, it
is obviously better to have a
child with nd record of their
¡parents than a dead one.
Typically, women who aban
don their infants are motivated
by fear of how their parents, boy
friends or husbands will react, a
D id
fear so compelling, experts say,
that abandonment appears to be
the only feasible option. Some
have been victims of rape or do
mestic violence. Many are chil
dren themselves in profound de
nial. They won't confide in any
one until it is too late. And then
they discard the infant, as if by
doing so, they might convince
themselves they had never really
been pregnant at all.
Texas, the first state to pass
safe haven legislation, saw a
doubling in babies saved after
one publicity push. California,
which took part in no publicity,
saw seven babies turned in un
der the “Safe Arms for New
borns” law in the first nine
months of 2001, according to the
International Association of Vol
untary Adoption Agencies and
NGO’s (Non-Governmental
Organzations).
In a recent case.two Connecti
cut parents, protected by their
state's safe haven laws, were ad
vised by a hotline operator to
drop their baby off at a hospital.
The couple crossed the border
into Massachusetts to drop their
baby off at a hospital, riot know
ing that Massachusetts has no
safe.haven legislation. Officials
are searching for the couple, who
could face up to two and a half
years in jail if convicted of child
abandonment. This Case illus
trates the need for a consistent
national safe haven laws rather
than the patchwork among states.
Athough a temporary and im
perfect solution, safe haven laws
do work, and provide an alterna
tive .for parents who feel they
have no other options.
To reach Erinn Lerten
goawayrocks@hotmail.com or
drop by B-104.
An easy way out
is not the best
DAISY BAIN
A&E Editor
It saddens me to no end when
I think about the people who live
around me. Some of the people I
once called my best friends have-
ruined their lives. And what is
the worst part of the scenario?
They have children. Or let me
re-phrase this, they had children.
Let me tell a story. My best
friend had a child; she suffered
from what is called post-partum
depression. She turned to drugs
to help her through the blues.
She never recovered. I can’t
count how many times her ador
able child was dropped off in my
arms to be taken care of while she
tramped all over the city. Finally,
when enough was enough, the
grandparents and I got together
and pulled her aside to “talk” out
her problems The child now is
in the care of the grandparents,
and the mother is nowhere to be
found.
Where is the father? The man
who was thought to be the fa
ther is on drugs DNA testing
proved that, thankfully, he’s not
the daddy. The real father, who
just married another woman,
signed off all parental rights to
the grandparents.
Many state legislatures are
now considering enacting safe
haven laws that would allow
women, such" as my friend, to
drop off their infants to any
firehouse or hospital with no
questions asked. There are cons
and pros to this new law.
I know that if this law had been
in effect here in Oregon my friend
would have dropped this little
munchkin off to strangers, and I
would have never have the privi
lege getting to know him.
With the “no questions asked”
option, the children will never have
the chance to know who their par
ents are, ever. Many of the women
who are so distraught that they
feel the need to get nd of their ba
bies. The fathers have no idea they
have a child out there. Suddenly,
they have no chance of knowing
their own flesh and blood
Now, I see the other side of the
argument. Dumpster babies hap
pen all the time. Those poor chil
dren are left without a chance, and
if they were dropped in a hospital
versus a garbage bin, they would
have a higher chance of survival.
According to statistics kept by the
U.S Department of Health and
Human Services, in 1998 31,000
children were abandoned in hos
pitals? This was before the safe
haven law. Just because we don’t
have laws stating you can drop
them off, doesn’t mean that women
won’t.
■
I strongly believe that those
women, who 'drop kids in
Dumpsters, would do that any way.
.What happens if two or three
months down the road, the mother
suddenly feels like she was
wrong? She feels she needs to be
with her baby. This shouldn't be
allowed. If you can dump your
baby, who says you can deal with
your children when it gets even
tougher?
I am afraid that this law will just
make it way too easy for women to
cop out of a situation that could
be remedied. I know that if this
law had been out there when my
friend gave her baby up, I wouldn’t
see him now. I don’t think I would
be able to approve of this law, no
matter how good-hearted it may be.
To reach Daisy Bain e-mail
Daisypower2@ydhoo.com or drop
by B-104.
A ngry ? C onfused ? E xcited ? C urious ? I nsulted ?
FuRiotrs? L ivid ? I rate ? T hrilled ? A gitated ? P rovoked ?
W ell then ; send a letter to the . editor .
these stories make you
° “
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