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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Wednesday, April 9, 2003

EDITORIAL
Amnesty prioritizes the safety of newborns

Hawai'i is considering joining more than a dozen states that have decriminalized child abandonment if a mother leaves a newborn baby at a hospital within 72 hours of the birth.

There's a sound reason behind the proposed amnesty, as strange as it might seem on first blush.

Today, a troubled or immature mother might be reluctant to hand a newborn over to authorities for fear of being charged with child abandonment or just feeling shame. Instead, she might dump the baby in a bathroom stall or trash can.

It's happened, even here in 'ohana-centric Hawai'i. Last year, a 22-year-old Kaua'i mother stuffed her newborn son into a paper rice bag and threw the bag into a trash can to conceal her pregnancy from her family. She was sentenced to six months in prison and 10 years probation.

Of course, it's hard to know if a "safe haven" law would have made a difference in this or similar cases.

Still, we wholeheartedly agree with the principle that saving a baby who would otherwise be left to die far supercedes the need to punish the mother.

The safe-haven measure currently moving through the state Legislature would only give immunity to parents who have not physically or psychologically abused the child. We're not sure how psychological abuse can be proven in a newborn.

But it seems fair that hospital staff would be allowed to ask about the medical history of the anonymous mother and baby, as long as it's relevant to the child's health.

If the bill becomes law, there would have to be a good effort to inform young women about it. That was apparently missing in Florida when its legislature passed an Abandoned Baby bill in 2000 but did not publicize it.

In one case, a lawyer argued that his client, 17-year-old Aimee Lee Weiss, did not know about the law when she threw her newborn in a canal behind her father's home.

Fewer newborns might be abandoned were there better outreach and counseling regarding birth control and alternatives to unwanted pregnancies — including adoption. In many baby-abandonment cases, the mothers are teenagers who have kept their pregnancy a secret to the point of no return.

But at the very least, having a safe-haven law is better than offering no alternatives to panicked or immature mothers who cannot cope with a newborn.