Discussion newborn abandonment and “safe haven”laws
In all my musical head trips it never occurred to me to write or think about or visualize or musicalize about abandoning a baby. No doubt there are plenty of Scottish and Irish ballads about baby dumping (or killing), but–old dead baby jokes aside– they’ve not made their way into modern pop culture. Continue Reading →
This PP news was pretty much ignored in AdoptionLand, but anti-aborts went nutso. You’d think that PP was hustling women to turn in their newborns for body parts (though in May, that’ wasn’t an issue.)
Sarah Zagorski from LifeNews opined: Planned Parenthood is hardly a safe place for newborns considering the fact they support late-term abortion and consistently refuse to protect infants born alive at abortion facilities.
Dr. Mark Hodges, writing for Lifesite News, chimed in: Many pro-life advocates strongly support Safe Haven laws. But with abortion as its top-grossing “service,” Planned Parenthood is not a “safe haven” for any preborn baby. The pro-abortion giant – which takes the lives of over a third of a million American babies each year – favors late-term abortions up to the moment of birth
Evoking Goodwin’s Law, The American Coalition for Life posted: There is no way Planned Parenthood can be a “safe haven” for anyone, let alone a newborn baby. Their legacy is one of genocide, not saving people. In my opinion, this is the same as allowing the death camps in Nazi Germany and its occupied territories the status of a safe, no-fire zone during the war where everyone, including the Jewish people are allowed to go for safety. This is an appalling development in the war to stop abortion.
Dave Andrusko, from National Right to Life, obviously upset that PP had moved into his “neighborhood,” blustered: Why could/would/should it surprise you that Planned Parenthood, which corrupts everything it touches, also leads the galaxy in hypocrisy?He implied, as much as he could without threat of a Cease and Desist Letter that PP had an ulterior motive for being on the “safe haven” list: Planned Parenthood is the most aggressive seller, promoter, and exporter of abortions anywhere in the world. It is quite willing to abuse unborn babies up to the last possible moment–the very same babies who are capable of feeling excruciating pain as they are killed.” Continue Reading →
My central gripe about the bill is that it would create a “foundling birth certificate” to serve as an original birth certificate for all newborns “relinquished” at a state-authorized safe haven ” drop off point. The certificate, to protect parental anonymity, will contain no identifying information about the relinquishing parent even if that information is known to hospital, fire, police, or social service authorities. Continue Reading →
On February 8 a newborn was discovered in the front yard of a home on Kathleen Street in Phoenix. Baby Kathleen (yes they named her that!) was transported to the hospital and seems to be all right. Neighbors reported seeing a young pregnant woman in the area shortly before the discovery: Witnesses from the area told detectives they saw a young woman walking around the neighborhood and at a nearby elementary school. She was described as “very pregnant” and appeared to be in “distress.” She is described as: Hispanic female, 17 to 24 years old, 5’3″, slender, dark hair in a ponytail, white spaghetti strap shirt, blue or gray pants, with a noticeable tattoo on her right bicep area that could possibly be a red floral design. Actually yard babies are fairly common, though they tend to be found in backyards. I”ll leave the logistics of this pop and drop to the authorities. Comments on the story are typical, ranging from complaints about anchor babies (how abandoning an anchor baby helps a parent isn’t addressed) to “at least shed didn’t throw it in a dumpster” appear at the bottom of the story. And then there’s this, the most blatant pitch Continue Reading →
Remember when “safe haven” do-gooders assured the world that “safe haven” legalized baby dumping, would be “rare?” According to the June 30 Lodi News article, Mother safely, legally abandoned baby at Lodi Memorial that “rare” instance has reached epidemic proportion in California. Since the law went into effect in 2001, 348 newborns had been dumped anonymously on the state for their own good by parents who love their babies so much they’ll kill them if they can’t drop them on an ER counter with no shame, no blame, no name or molestation by pesky cops and courts. This article and a TV report from KCRA-TV , Mom: I can’t afford to raise baby give us some random stats for the state: San Joaquin County: 282001 statewide: 22009 statewide: 521st quarter 2010 statewide: 16The LA Times reported on July 6 in Mother surrenders newborn son at ER in Glendale, that since 2002, 79 newborns have been “saved” in LA County. Deanne Tilton Durfee, executive director of the Los Angeles Inter-Agency Council, waxed poetic about the Glendale dump: The word needs to be out there that there is a recourse, there is a resource. What next? Baby Safe Haven Rap? As for Continue Reading →
Bastardette has gotten hi-jacked and backlogged. I’m trying to catch up. I’ll start with something short. ****** Right before I left for the ASAC conference at MIT in May, They Whose Names Must Not Be Said sent a comment (unpublished) to the Daily Bastaradette regarding the outrageous theft of several Baby Safe Haven signs that mar the Boston and environs landscape. The ones that point “frightened” teens with no names to the nearest baby dump site. Included with the note was a link to a Boston Herald, story, Baby Safe Haven signs mysteriously go missing. The article, except for the first two paragraphs, the not-to-be-missed reader comments, and a picture of wowzsy BSH spokes-singer Rene Marcou freezing her bazooms off in front of a fire station, is in the Herald’s paid archives now. (photo Mattthew West, Boston Herald). I’ve got the original, and now you can have the lowdown: Three “Baby Safe haven” signs stripped from street poles near local hospitals have left advocates baffled over how, when and why they were removed…. …[the signs] are not just vital signposts, they have “historical significance“because they helped draw both local and worldwide attention to the Safe Haven law, which has saved Continue Reading →
INCREDIBLE! This just in from Nick Silverio at Florida’s Safe Haven for Newborns. Press Release: Subject: A baby boy named Abraham! A pregnant woman contacted us via our helpline nine (9) weeks ago seeking information and assistance, explaining that she was not able to provide a future for her child. She received medical care throughout her pregnancy and gave birth to a very health little boy. His name is Abraham. We coordinated the “Safe Haven” process for her with the hospital. The mother praised the hospital staff saying “This was a very difficult time for me. They were so compassionate, kind and did not judge me. I am so thankful for that. Also, I don’t know what I would have done if it wasn’t for the guidance, assistance and support of the Safe Haven for Newborns staff.” Saving Lives………………………………………………….……….. This is a graphic from the front page of Safe Haven for Newborns. Did Lil Abe meet the promotional criteria? Can it be any more clear that this is what, as we predicted ten years ago? In the words of Safe Haven grandaddy, Bill Pierce: non-bureaucratic surrender. Lil Abe was secreted away and disappeared right into Florida’s private adoption mill under Continue Reading →
While Germany debates the ethics and legality of anonymous baby dumping, Ecumenical News Service reports that the Lithuanian government, in conjunction with the country’s Catholic bishops, has opened baby hatches in the capital city Vilnius and Klaipeda, the country’s only seaport. The first hatch is located in a “special room” in the Vilnius Babies’ Foster Home. Babies left will be cared for on the premises. Parents and family members will have three months to visit and reclaim the infant before the state takes permanent custody. Although the “windows of life,” as the hatches are called, were instituted in response to four alleged cases of neonaticide in 2007, they are clearly being marketed as an anti-abortion measure. Richardas Doveika (right), assistant to the secretary of the bishop’s council says, “The church, as a preacher of life, always blesses every pro-life initiative.” The bishops, he says, are considering adding “windows” in church-run hospitals throughout the country, but offers no evidence of need. In fact, I have been unable to find any statistics on the number of abandoned newborns or neonaticides in Lithuania other than the reference to the 2007 cases. Petronele Valatkeviciene, director of the foster home, unaware or uncaring of the Continue Reading →
Oh Oh! The English language edition of Deutsche Welle, the expat The Local out of Hamburg, and dozens of German language media sources this weekend reported that the German Council on Ethics has called for the closing of the country’s 80 Babyklappen (Baby Flaps/Baby Hatches). In American lingo: anonymous birth and baby dumping. Deutsche Welle reported that the Council called babyklappen “illegal,”while The Local says “morally ‘problematic.” The babyklappen statement itself is not posted on The Council’s website, so we must go with news reports. The Local quotes the statement: But on Thursday the Council said that the hatches, which parents have used to give up some 500 babies so far, should be closed because the most at-risk women fail to use them and they deny children the right to know their origins. “The German Ethics Council suggests that pregnant women and mothers in emergency situations be aided as much as possible without damaging the rights of others – their children in particular,” a statement said. Deutchse Welle reported (my emphasis): But most of the 26-person ethics committee, which includes scientists and legal experts and church leaders, did not agree [with the minority of the committee that opposed the statement.] Continue Reading →