Voluntary Donations v Public Funding: Ohio politician thinks taxpayers should pay for privately funded Safe Haven Baby Boxes
One of the selling points for getting a town to install a Safe Haven Baby Box has been the claim that the cost of the box will not come out of taxpayer pockets. It’s all private voluntary contributions from the community. That’s not what one Ohio politician, however, has in mind. According to the September 19, Dayton Daily News, Lebanon, Ohio City Council member, local attorney, and forced-birth advocate* Adam Matthews says he plans to propose that the Lebanon City Council foot the bill for a box. He wants to add the $16,000 cost of the box and the $300/year maintenance fee to the city budget. Ohio cities already host 4 boxes (Defiance, Hicksville, Sunbury, Van Wert with another one proposed in New Delhi Township near Cincinnati) and none of those towns reported spending public money on their boxes. In fact, BST&G Fire District officials in Sunbury were clear that its then-proposed baby box was off the table unless enough funds to lease, install, and maintain it could be raised through private donors and grants. The first box in Ohio was installed in 2018, but none have been used. Contrary to Safe Haven Baby Boxes, Inc’s propaganda, Ohio does Continue Reading →