Senate to face 'baby drop-off' bill
By Bruce Dunford
Associated Press
A mother unable to cope with raising a newborn could anonymously drop the infant off at a hospital within 72 hours of birth and not face criminal prosecution under a bill moving through the Legislature.
Hawai'i appears ready to join a growing list of states that have adopted so-called "baby drop-off" or "safe haven" laws intended to make the protection of the child a priority over bringing child abandonment charges against the mother.
Faced with the harsh reality of parenthood, "their solution is leaving the newborn in a populated area with the hope that someone will find and care for the child," according to the bill. "Although the possibility of prosecution was intended to deter mothers from taking such a careless approach, newborn infants have suffered and died as the result of abandonment in life-threatening situations."
Lawmakers said that child abandonment in Hawai'i is rare, but say creating a system of anonymity, confidentiality and freedom from prosecution for parents may encourage them to leave a newborn infant safely, and thus save its life.
Last August, Christine Robles, 22, of Kaua'i, was sentenced to six months in prison and given 10 years probation after being convicted in the death of her newborn son.
Robles pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the April 2001 death of her son, who prosecutors said was stuffed into a paper rice bag and thrown into a trash can outside her Koloa home to conceal her pregnancy from family members.
A forensic pathologist determined the child had been born alive and apparently healthy and was suffocated.
For the parent to qualify for immunity under the bill, there must be no evidence of injury to a child's physical or psychological health or welfare. While the hospital can't inquire about the identity of the person leaving the newborn, it may ask about the medical history of the mother and baby.
In recommending the bill, Senate Human Services Chairwoman Suzanne Chun Oakland, D-13th (Kalihi-Nu'uanu), cited a 1998 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that said 105 babies were abandoned in public places nationwide and of those 33 were found dead. A 1991 study found 65 cases of abandoned babies nationwide.
The federal agency said the increase in cases could simply reflect heightened media interest in the issue and not necessarily indicate an increase in baby abandonment.
While the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii's unofficial check with Hawai'i hospitals turned up no documented cases of abandonment, the bill is an attempt to be proactive in addressing an issue that has become a problem on the national level, Chun Oakland said.
The bill is among dozens scheduled to be taken up by the Senate today as each chamber approaches Thursday's deadline to complete work on the other side's bills and return them to start working out differences in conference committee.
