Safe Haven Laws

In the book Unwind by Neal Shusterman a law is passed to where mothers who can no longer can finically support their babies or no longer want their infant, are permitted to leave the unwanted child on someone else's porch, also referred to as "storking". This law or,"Storking Initave", was passed to result in less abortions. Under one circumstance, if the mother is caught leaving the child on a random family's porch, the mother has to keep their child. After the birth mother is caught she has the option of keeping the child or sending it to the state home to be come a ward of the state. If the family who received the baby keeps the child they become the parents of the child, but if the family does not want it they are allowed to pass it on to someone else's porch.The child is now referred to as a "stork".

In some ethical and legal respects a pregnant woman and her fetus can be considered separate. Both the woman and the fetus are ordinarily affected by the well-being of one another for as long as each of them live. The ethical and legal issues are challenged deeply in cases where the well-being of the fetus and the mother appear to be in conflict. Our society struggles with identifying cases where the pregnant woman’s interests and/or behaviors might put her fetus at risk. Criminal and/or civil commitments should be used to bar pregnant women from exposing their fetuses to risk.

Restraining pregnant prisoners at any time increases their potential for physical harm from an accidental trip or fall. This also poses a risk of serious harm to the woman’s fetus, including the potential for miscarriage. During labor, delivery and postpartum recovery, shackling can interfere with appropriate medical care and be

The problems at hand that the SIMARRA Act bill is proposing to address, involves child welfare issues, women’s health concerns, and a lack of protection and healthcare needs for these women and their unborn children within the criminal justice system. According to the bill, it has been propositioned to enhance the welfare and public health for incarcerated pregnant women and mothers by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the Federal prison system, by establishing a pilot program of critical-stage, developmental nurseries in Federal prisons for children born to inmates, with risk needs assessments, and risk and recidivism reduction (H.R.5130, 2016). The bill is intended to focus and alleviate the lack thereof adequate care, stress, and hazardous health practices that incarcerated mothers are experiencing with their infant babies, while also monitoring the health of these women. Both the mothers and infants are affected in these situations because the health of the mother has substantial

Jill Lepore’s New Yorker article Baby Doe: A political history of tragedy provides documented history of child abuse in the U.S. that date back to colonial times. She illustrated tragic cases Massachusetts Child Protective Services had been confronted with and gave a synopsis of the challenging history the Department of Children and Families.

Mary Anne Warren (p.195-196) points out the exceptional circumstances of pregnancy; where one human is entirely biologically reliant on another and where it is impossible for complete personhood rights to not be in conflict between the foetus and the mother. Consider the following case. A mother and an expecting mother both express an intent to kill their child or unborn child respectively. Services are available to take the postnatal children from their mother without affecting her body. Yet to protect the foetus, one would have to imprison the mother until birth, or worse, force a caesarean on her. Warren (193) points out that forced caesareans are not merely a hypothetical

Care for pregnant women is even more dismal, considering their additional health needs” (p. 11). The quantitative report goes on to state that many pregnant offenders have undiagnosed or untreated conditions that can increase the pregnancy risks and contribute to poor birth outcomes. Mothers Behind Bars surveyed all 50 states regarding prenatal care and found: 43 states did not require medical examinations as a component of prenatal care; 41 states did not require prenatal nutrition counseling or the provision of appropriate nutrition; 34 states did not require screening and treatment for high-risk pregnancies; 48 states did not offer advice on activity levels and safety during pregnancy; 45 states did not make advance arrangements for deliveries with particular hospitals; and 49 states failed to report all incarcerated women’s pregnancies and their outcomes (The Rebecca Project for Human Rights and the National Women's Law Center, 2010). Researchers did not list under limitations of their findings if obstetric care was provided inside or contracted to an outside care provider. This information would have been beneficial and may have affected the state’s responses to the survey questions. Ferszt and Clarke (2012) conducted a qualitative survey of 50 wardens, a warden at a women’s correctional

While looking at the dangers and environment in a child’s home, advocates such as employees of the Department of Family and Protective Services of the State of Texas, have the moral obligation to take into consideration safety of children shelters and foster homes. Morally, advocates for the children should also take into consideration the psychological trauma that the child may or may not experience through being taken away from family and being placed, possibly multiple times, at new places away from everything they know.

There is a need for safe-haven laws because a growing number of young mothers are giving birth to children in less than ideal family situations. An unwed, teenage girl may give birth to a child, and then out of sheer panic and acute depression, leave the child behind in an unsafe environment. These laws would significantly reduce the risk that a newborn will be abandoned in a situation that jeopardizes their survival. The laws also offer anonymity and immunity from prosecution for the parent who chooses to drop their baby off, for whatever reasons, at a safe-haven.

Each state has its own period of time in which the law allows a parent to reclaim the baby. A parent who may not have known that the baby was given up through the SSBLinfant safe haven laws can go to the proper authorities and apply to reclaim the baby through that individual state’s process. In each case, to reclaim the baby, a social worker will meet with the parent or parents and evaluate the:

The tragic case of two-year-old Caylee Anthony reveals the devastating consequences that murders can have on victims and their families. Caylee was an innocent toddler that lived with her mother, Casey Anthony and her maternal grandmothers, Cindy and George. On July 15, 2008 a call to 911 was sent in by Caylee’s grandmother Cindy, reporting that she hasn’t seen Caylee in 31 days and that the toddler’s mother’s car smelled like a dead body has been inside it. The toddler’s mother gave varied explanations on where her daughter was located but then admitted she hasn’t seen her in weeks. She told police that she left Caylee at her nanny’s apartment and when she returned, they were both missing. Detectives found discrepancies in a signed statement she made about Caylee’s disappearance. Casey’s friends and family had never heard of Gonzales, and detectives later found the nanny never existed. The apartment Casey and Caylee were supposed to be living with was found to be vacant for more than 140 days. On December 11, 2008, Caylee 's body was found in a blanket inside a trash bag in a wooded area near the child’s home. Investigative reports and trial testimony found duct tape near the front of the skull] and on the mouth of the toddler. In result, Casey Anthony was charged on October 2008 with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and four counts of providing false information to police.

When states do adopted there next job would to be to inform the public about the safe haven law, and then the states would see number decrease of infant abetment in unsafe places. “Since 1999, 2,138 children have been relinquished nationwide under the Baby Safe Haven laws. Florida accounts for nearly 10 percent of that total, with 202 children left at safe havens around the state since 2000. Illinois has had 86 children left at safe havens since 2001. In the 12 years Arizona’s law has been in effect, 24 children have been left at safe havens.” (Hensley) With some states the law would become successful, but in some states it will only work for the ones that have an increase in mothers who are having baby kind like a “baby

A number cannot be determined on how many children have been left at safe havens, but the numbers of infant deaths have been lowered since the option was given. Young parents want a future. They want to go to college and travel and then settledown to have kids. But some make a mistake somewhere or something happens to where they become pregnant. Once they have that baby they don’t think much through, and can commit neonaticide. Neonaticide is when an infant

Infant abduction simply saying it doesn’t even seem moral. For a mother to receive the new about the precious child she just delivered to be abducted from a medical facility sound so cruel. Infant abduction was classified as a major problem being faced in the United States hospitals. Throughout earlier years infant abductions remained increasingly high. In the 1980’s the hospitals started to apply changes on ways to increase the level or protection after a mother deliver a baby. Along with many healthcare challenges hospital must develop protocol and regulations that solve or improve difficult, hazardous, or even extreme situations. For starts implementing a “phase” or “code” to notify staff member or the hospital facility that and infant been

Just because a woman acted foolishly and carelessly does not mean that an innocent third party, the child, should have to accept the punishment for their mother’s actions. Another alarming statistic is that twenty-two percent of all pregnancies in the United States end in abortion (U.S. Abortion Statistics). Many of these abortions occur from people who live below the poverty level and cannot afford proper birth control. While abortion has been decreasing among most groups of categories that are determined by characteristics such as age, race, and financial income; abortions among poor people have been on the rise. In 2008, poor women were responsible for forty-two percent of all abortions that took place in the United States. Likewise, the abortion rate of poor women escalated by eight-teen percent from 2000-2008 (Wind). This problem can be solved by providing more heath care clinics through the country for those individuals who cannot afford birth control. With more available heath care clinics, the amount of abortions that occur will be diminished significantly and wrongful killing of unborn children will come to an end.