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In It to Win It

(12,651 posts)
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 03:13 PM Apr 2023

As abortion ban looms, Florida may soon authorize 'baby boxes' for unwanted infants

As abortion ban looms, Florida may soon authorize ‘baby boxes’ for unwanted infants


In the medieval ages, mothers would emerge under the cover of night, head to the church, and place their unwanted newborns in turntables embedded in the walls, where, on the other side, a nun would take them.

A version of the practice may soon return in Florida.

A bill passed unanimously in the House and advancing in the Senate would allow fire departments, hospitals and EMS stations to install high-tech “newborn infant safety devices,” commonly referred to as “baby boxes,” into their walls. The technology, currently in use in a few states, is designed such that parents, particularly mothers, can drop their babies inside and walk away, never interacting with another person.

Florida, like many states across the U.S., currently has a “safe-haven law” in place, where anyone can surrender a newborn at a designated location, no questions asked. But the law does not say anything about leaving the newborns in boxes.

The bills, HB 899 and SB 870, do not specify what device would be used or who would supply it, but nearly all such boxes are manufactured and distributed by one company: Indiana-based Safe Haven Baby Boxes, whose founder and CEO, Monica Kelsey, was herself abandoned as an infant.

Baby box legislation was first introduced in 2020, then again in 2021, failing in the Senate both times. This time, it may become law.

The legislation seems innocuous at first glance — what could be less controversial than saving babies’ lives? But some say the baby boxes, advancing in the Legislature at the same time as a proposed six-week abortion ban, are immoral, even dangerous. The bill has received pushback, particularly in South Florida, from Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book. D-Davie, local fire departments, and a potential competitor: A Safe Haven for Newborns, a Miami-based nonprofit that provides most abandoned baby services across the state.
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hatrack

(64,887 posts)
2. Yeah, after Mom survives the breach birth, she'll hustle along to the fire station or wherever . . .
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 04:34 PM
Apr 2023

MyOwnPeace

(17,555 posts)
3. Since the RePukes are SO concerned...
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 05:18 PM
Apr 2023

about making sure all babies get ‘born’ - and offering a place to ‘leave’ an unwanted child, maybe someone should consider placing ‘deposits’ of the ‘unwanted’ babies in the ‘drop-off’ window - you know, saving a potential ‘Mother’ the worry of possible medical, social, financial, or other personal concerns. It could be with or without a spent condom container - anything to keep these evil shits happy with their demented dreams of controlling people, especially women.

TheBlackAdder

(29,981 posts)
17. They want those free babies so birth centers can sell them for $10-40K each to wealthy families.
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 09:37 PM
Apr 2023

bdamomma

(69,532 posts)
9. or maybe
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 07:15 PM
Apr 2023

this drug will be smuggled into the US. Then what would US Customs do????? Confiscate and destroy?? this freaking Judge in Texas why does he have so much authority over the FDA?????

roamer65

(37,953 posts)
12. I guarantee it will be smuggled into the US if banned.
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 08:33 PM
Apr 2023

Another one will be misoprostol.

Tree Lady

(13,282 posts)
13. It will become the new marijuana
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 08:38 PM
Apr 2023

easy to get anywhere. From the time I was a teen in the 70's to now no one has ever paid attention to pot being illegal unless there was cops around.

Women are going to make sure it is available especially in the red states, it will be underground. Because of the tougher laws I imagine there will be undercover cops so we will have code words and such.

 

ExWhoDoesntCare

(4,741 posts)
16. It's crazy easy to bring in all kinds of stuff from Mexico undetected
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 09:28 PM
Apr 2023

Especially if you're white.

Just put it under your seat. When you get to the customs booth and asked if you have anything to declare, give the attendant a big smile, show some cheap trinkets you bought, and reply "Just some shopping, sir! Do I have to declare these earrings?"

You'll get through, even if you have thousands of dollars worth of prescription drugs under your front seats.

Or a bar's worth of booze in your trunk.

Been there.

Done that.

ret5hd

(22,502 posts)
6. I know! Make them like aluminum can recycling...
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 06:05 PM
Apr 2023

machines! Drop your kid in, get $1.50 in change ($0.90 for a black kid). The more you breed, the more you get!

A modest proposal.

WhiskeyGrinder

(26,955 posts)
8. When people are forced to carry their unwanted pregnancies to term, the vast majority tend to keep
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 07:01 PM
Apr 2023

the babies. But they face increased poverty, debt and evictions, which then sets them up to lose their children because of "neglect."

 

ExWhoDoesntCare

(4,741 posts)
15. A form of this has been around for while in the modern era
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 09:20 PM
Apr 2023

Back in the 80s, one of the big media outrages du jour was about newborns found in dumpsters. It didn't take long for assorted states to enact legislation for safe places to drop off unwanted infants--no questions asked, no judgments made, no need to leave your name. None of that.

Apparently, the legislation worked, because I don't see nearly as many stories about it as we saw in the 80s.

So this is nothing new.

MyOwnPeace

(17,555 posts)
19. Ha! I see what you did there!!!!
Sat Apr 8, 2023, 09:55 PM
Apr 2023

I'm guessing DeSatin has already got the busses and planes lined up and ready to go....

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