But, note that it indicates the number of abandoned babies up to 1 year of age. The Nebraska Safe Haven law, passed in 2008 limits the age an infant can be safe havend to 30 days. (It was recently increased to 90) That’s a big difference, especially when newborns are at risk for discard and murder within the first 24 hours of birth. Continue Reading →
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 →
I’ve been following the Safe Haven Baby Box campaign for several years, and this totally creeps me out. Continue Reading →
The Safe Haven Baby Box Blitzkrieg continues to rip through Indiana. Today SHBB blessed (that means opened) its newest box in Westfield outside of Indianapolis. Since the campaign began in 2016 9 babies have been stuffed into baby boxes for safekeeping–8 in Indiana (5 this year) and 1 in Arkansas In addition, 3 boxes are located in Ohio with a fourth scheduled for opening soon, probably in Delaware County, north of Columbus. Another box will open soon in Rogers, Arkansas. Yet another is scheduled to open in Oklahoma, but no details have been released. State web pages in Indiana and Ohio do not advertise baby box use or locations and probably won’t. The Indiana Department of Health opposed the SHBB campaign, and I am a little unclear still how the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services reacted I recently filed a records request with ODJFS to tell me more. Continue Reading →
During Tuesday’s broadcast Kelsey and Kevin Albin, an SHBB activist in Delaware, Ohio said that Florida has had 20 unsafe abandonments since 2017. Kelsey said “deaths;” Albin said “unsafe abandonments.“ I don’t know where SHBB got its figures, but whether dead or alive, the numbers don’t jibe with statistics posted on the SHN website. According to Silverio’s numbers, there have been 8 known unsafe abandonments in that timeframe. Cases aren’t broken down by live and deceased,.but the total indicates that since 2000 there have been 64 known discards—30 alive and 34 dead. This year 12 Safe Haven events have occurred with no known unsafe discards. I don’t know whose figures are correct (if either) but the discrepancy is too wide not to be questioned The numbers need to be documented. Continue Reading →
The Justice Foundation’s idea of “‘hope” isn’t salary subsidies, mortgage/rent/utility cancelations, stay-at-home jobs, universal health care, referral services, or new/increased government assistance. No. Its idea of hope is to remain pregnant and then “release the baby to the community “ via Safe Haven after it’s born. In case you’re wondering, JF opposes contraception (including condom usage) and sex education among a slew of other contemporary anti-family evils plaguing the country. It is funded in large part by Dr. James Leininger, rightwing Texas bagman , whom Molly Ivins called God’s Sugar Daddy. Continue Reading →
Few details are available yet, but tomorrow the town will host a press conference featuring Safe Haven Baby Box Founder Monica Kelsey flying in from Indiana. where she has already installed 21 Boxes and at least another 26 have been 26 approved or proposed. Invitations have been sent to local business leaders, state representatives, members of Congress, and Governor Asa Hutchinson. Nothing like politicizing a personal tragedy, especially in a big election year. Continue Reading →
Last week the Village Council of Pioneer, Ohio approved unanimously installation of a baby drop box at the village fire station. Safe Haven Baby Boxes has made no announcement–only a teaser on its FB page. Continue Reading →
That baby box advocates continue to imply that AMT-COH supports this archaic and draconian practice is politically inept if not stupid. These claims baffle me since Jaccard has been vocal in public and private regarding his opposition. His statements are easy to document. Perhaps baby box leaders equate safe haven advocacy with baby drop box advocacy or believe in Big Lie Theory or are simply disingenuous. Perhaps baby drop box supporters are just incurious and enjoy being spoon-fed happy-dappy propaganda by their leaders as clueless as their followers about the tragic cause and effect of newborn discard. Or that they–leaders and followers alike–are all doing God’s will (an oft voiced belief). Boxers consistently fail to mention that Indiana baby drop boxes, the first two of which opened last month (Woodburn, Michigan City), are legally problematic under current Indiana safe haven law. Nor does the media ask. Continue Reading →
Speaking of babydrop boxes, the long awaited baby box bill, SB 3271, has been dropped in the Illinois Senate. The bill won’t legislate baby boxes or determine specs, but it would basicaly set up a study group to investigate the feasibility of boxes–hygienically referred to as “newborn safety incubators”– in Illinois. It’s attached to a short bill to amend the state’s safe haven law.