Is it criminal or isn't?
Oct. 31st, 2007 09:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spirithorse21Last week in Indiana, a 19 year old was arrested for killing her newborn child. The 19 year old managed to conceal the pregnancy and delivered the child, presumably at full term, in her dorm bathroom, where she allowed the child to fall into the toilet. It drowned and then she disposed of the child in the trash. Her roommate became suspicious and called the police, the girl was later arrested.
You can see the whole story here
Fine. That makes perfect sense.
Now, today, I read this story in the Indianapolis Star:
8:58 AM October 31, 2007
Woman leaves newborn at hospital
By Vic Ryckaert
vic.ryckaert@indystar.com
October 31, 2007
Police say a woman left a newborn girl with a worker at an Eastside hospital this week.
The woman, apparently the child's mother, stopped a Community East Hospital employee in the parking lot and handed the worker the baby girl bundled in blankets at about 12:45 on Monday, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police report.
"The unidentified female then stated the baby had just been born (and) that she could not take care of it," Marion County Sheriff's Department Special Deputy Thomas O'Daniel wrote in his report.
The mother drove away in a gray Oldsmobile, police said. Hospital worker Karen Fisher brought the child to the hospital's nursery.
The baby is in the care of Child Protective Services, police said.
Indiana's Safe Haven Law allows a parent who cannot care for an infant younger than 45 days old to leave the baby with staff at hospitals, police stations and firehouses. The parents do not have to identify themselves or explain their actions as long as the baby is unharmed.
Is it just me, or are you all under the assumption that the police might be looking for this woman until you read the last paragraph? If I were this woman and I read this news article, I'd totally freak out. If I were a young woman thinking about giving up my baby under the Safe Haven law, I'd freak out. Reading this article, it sounds dirty and underhanded that this woman gave up her baby in a way that is in accordance with the law. Articles like this, in my opinion, are the reason why more woman don't use this safety net. Why feel ridiculed and evil for trying to do the right thing by that baby? The law was created to give a child a chance at a good life where it might otherwise not live or lead a terrible, abused or unloved life. If you create the law, uphold it, don't bash it down.
You can see the whole story here
Fine. That makes perfect sense.
Now, today, I read this story in the Indianapolis Star:
8:58 AM October 31, 2007
Woman leaves newborn at hospital
By Vic Ryckaert
vic.ryckaert@indystar.com
October 31, 2007
Police say a woman left a newborn girl with a worker at an Eastside hospital this week.
The woman, apparently the child's mother, stopped a Community East Hospital employee in the parking lot and handed the worker the baby girl bundled in blankets at about 12:45 on Monday, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police report.
"The unidentified female then stated the baby had just been born (and) that she could not take care of it," Marion County Sheriff's Department Special Deputy Thomas O'Daniel wrote in his report.
The mother drove away in a gray Oldsmobile, police said. Hospital worker Karen Fisher brought the child to the hospital's nursery.
The baby is in the care of Child Protective Services, police said.
Indiana's Safe Haven Law allows a parent who cannot care for an infant younger than 45 days old to leave the baby with staff at hospitals, police stations and firehouses. The parents do not have to identify themselves or explain their actions as long as the baby is unharmed.
Is it just me, or are you all under the assumption that the police might be looking for this woman until you read the last paragraph? If I were this woman and I read this news article, I'd totally freak out. If I were a young woman thinking about giving up my baby under the Safe Haven law, I'd freak out. Reading this article, it sounds dirty and underhanded that this woman gave up her baby in a way that is in accordance with the law. Articles like this, in my opinion, are the reason why more woman don't use this safety net. Why feel ridiculed and evil for trying to do the right thing by that baby? The law was created to give a child a chance at a good life where it might otherwise not live or lead a terrible, abused or unloved life. If you create the law, uphold it, don't bash it down.
