Florida fight over ‘baby boxes’ part of bigger culture war -
But a fight between the two is brewing in the Florida Senate. An existing state law, supported and promoted by the Miami-based A Safe Haven, allows parents to surrender newborns to firefighters and hospital workers without giving their names.
Similar baby-box bills have been approved recently by lawmakers in Kansas, Montana and Mississippi and sent to those states’ governors for approval. West Virginia’s legislature is also considering such a bill. The boxes are already allowed in nine states, mostly in the Midwest and South, with the largest numbers in Indiana, Arkansas, and Kentucky, respectively. About 145 boxes have been installed since the first in 2016, with 25 newborns surrendered through one, Safe Haven Baby Boxes says.
Republican Rep. Jennifer Canady, the bill’s lead sponsor, declined an interview request. She said in a statement that her proposed law would be “an important next step to provide options to save lives and protect life at every stage.” “It is not an objection to giving the mother as many potentials as possible to help rescue and save these babies. It’s the box itself, and the way the box is administered, that gives us concern,” Gordon said.
The new bill would allow but not require fire departments and hospitals to acquire the boxes, which would be leased from Kelsey’s group. They cost about $16,000 installed and there is a $300 annual maintenance and inspection fee, paid to Kelsey’s charity. Sometimes the installation and fees are paid by donors, she said.Gordon said only five Florida babies have been illegally abandoned since 2018, and in several recent years that number was zero.
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