Today I received an email from a fact checker from a major magazine asking me to verify a couple of points for an upcoming article regarding Safe Haven Baby Boxes since the 2022 Dobbs decision. l have not interviewed with anyone from this magazine for the article, but the writer must be getting information from Stop Safe Haven Baby Boxes Now!
I verified that the information was correct, but it got me digging a little about something I’d not calculated before, and should have: the number of states since Dobbs that passed baby abandonment box legislation and the number of boxes installed.
This is what I found. The aggregate is worse than I thought:
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- Number of states that enacted SHBB bills since Dobbs: 18 +13 cities under Home Rule
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- Number of baby boxes installed since Dobbs: 284 by November 16, 2025 (possibly 286 due to a sudden discrepancy in the number between SSHBBN and SHBB Inc.)
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The rest of this post is “unscientific,” based on my own research, archives, and opinions derived from it.
A question not asked: Has newborn discard /neonaticide ncreased since Dobbs? This is impossible to know.
It’s crazy. Nobody keeps official records of discards/neonaticides. Nearly all known cases are reported in media, which is nearly the only way we know what is going on. Anti-and pro-baby box advocates agree that this is a huge problem. I would support any legislation that requires the collection of this information, but I won’t hold my breath.
This haphazard “method ” of data collection suggests that the number of reported discard/neonaticide cases continues to be pretty much the same pre- and post-Dobbs. I and two other organizations track cases, and our stats closely align. Overall, SHBB Inc disagrees with our stats, and, without factoring in Dobbs, has always claimed a higher number. of cases. Perhaps they have a secret pipeline to secret information. SHBB CEO/founder Monica Kelsey as far as I know at this writing, I has not publicly claimed higher numbers based on Dobbs.
Here are 4 major problems anyone researching reported incidents of discard/neonaticide encounters that confuse and affect statistics:
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- reported suspected or possible cases disappear from the news cycle
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- cause of death is undetermined
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- investigations determine babies are stillborn or natural death
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- reported cases fall outside of state safe haven law age or other eligibility requirements
An additional problem is SHBB’s insistence on claiming any possible neonaticide case as neonaticide; thus, inflating numbers.
There appears to be no substantial difference in the number of discard/neonaticide cases post-Dobbs. That may change as federal and state governments cut assistance to families, enact restrictive abortion laws, and otherwise police women’s bodies.
The number of SHBB cases has increased as the number states legalize them and more boxes are installed.
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- States with baby box laws on the books but no boxes: installed: 5
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- States with boxes that have not received any babies (as far as we know): 10
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Cross-posted t from The Daily Bastardette
(No, it will never be X!)
Stop Safe Haven Baby Boxes Now!
Poke the Bear 2025
Day 11–19 days to go!
