ST. LOUIS (LifeSiteNews) — Missouri recently saw its first baby saved by the installation of its first Safe Haven Baby Box, where an infant girl was surrendered safely at a fire station and quickly given care.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes are designed for mothers to securely and anonymously deliver babies to a safe place where they will be taken for care and placement with a willing family. They are equipped with heating, cooling, and silent alarms to ensure a baby is quickly attended to after placement. Once a baby is surrendered, the box locks on the outside so passersby cannot take or harm him or her.
While the exact details vary by location, each state has a safe haven law under which mothers who have decided they are unwilling or unable to raise their babies can leave them at certain locations staffed by trained professionals, such as fire stations, hospitals, or police stations, without fear of legal punishment, no questions asked.
Live Action reports that a baby girl estimated to be just hours old was recently surrendered at Mehlville Fire District, where Missouri’s first and so far only Baby Box was installed last August. She was soon taken to a nearby hospital and assessed to be healthy.
“To that mother, I would like to say that we loved that baby and cared for that baby the minute we laid eyes on her and the minute we opened up that door,” said Mehlville Fire & Protection District Chief Brian Hendricks, who added that plans are in the works for a second box elsewhere in the town, and there is interest to set up more in other parts of the Show-Me State.
“We knew the value of these boxes in Missouri, and we are thankful it was there for this mother when she needed it,” said Republican state Rep. Jim Murphy, who spearheaded legislation providing for the boxes, which was signed in 2021. “The mother’s courageous decision to utilize the Safe Haven Baby Box is a testament to the impact of these life-saving initiatives.”
The option of save havens undercuts some of the most commonly invoked rationalizations for abortion: the difficulty, expense, and career or educational impact of raising a child. They, along with adoption services and the work of crisis pregnancy centers, remain as vital to pro-life efforts as ever now that abortion may be directly prohibited.
Fourteen states currently ban all or most abortions, with available data so far indicating that pro-life state laws could effectively wipe out an estimated 200,000 abortions a year. Among states that ban most abortions is Missouri, where abortion is illegal unless a medical condition would “necessitate” one to avoid the mother’s death or “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function,” based on a physician’s “reasonable medical judgment.”
More information about Safe Haven Baby Boxes, including their exact locations across America, can be found at the organization’s website. More information about safe haven laws, resources, and other types of safe haven locations can be found at the website of the National Safe Haven Alliance.