Today's paper had a thought-provoking article that made me uneasy..what do you think?

[donna723]

Terry, the trial of the girl who smothered her twin boys is still in progress. And this isn't a very young girl, she's old enough to have been outof school and engaged to be married! She doesn't deny killing the babies. She claims that she didn't know she was pregnant (with twins!) and that she was in such a state of shock after their birth that she didn't know what she was doing. But when the police checked her computer, they found that she had done many searches on pregnancy-related subjects before the babies were born, so obviously she DID know she was pregnant. She still lived with her parents and somehow managed to hide the pregnancy from both her parents and her fiance. From what they said, her fiance was NOT the father of the babies, it was some other man, so she concealed the pregnancy and did away with the babies. So very sad, and she could have taken advantage of the new laws and left these babies at a fire station or hospital. It's even sadder when you think of all the childless people who would have given anything to have those babies.

 

[TerryJ2]

Absolutely.

 

[donna723]

The outcome of the Lindsey Lowe trial, the girl who killed her newborn twin boys - guilty on all counts.

 

[hearts and roses]

Ditto what MM said. Lawmakers tend to overthink these things...we live in a society where fault must be found and placed. It's unfortunate that the baby died, but it sounds like the mother did what she thought was the right thing at the time...to protect both herself and the infant. To prosecute her would be setting a precedent to seek out and prosecute others. Next thing you know, they will use the surveillance cameras to find the mother and make her pay child support. I swear.

Any and all medical facilities should be a drop off spot for unwanted newborns, no questions asked. This discussion could easily spark a debate on the abortion laws but I won't go there. Ahem.

Very thought provoking article DDD, thanks for sharing it.

I understand the idea behind the law but it seems to me that it will cause far more tragedies than it hopes to prevent. If you are frantic enough to give up your newborn under those circumstances, you are doing it because you don't want your identity known. If you believe that you are going to be identified no matter what there is a good chance some of those babies will be left in garbage cans, etc.
Just another law made by old men who have no idea what they're doing.

 

[AnnieO]

My opinion? The fire station is at fault. NOT the mother. She did what she was supposed to. If the place was a drop off, they should have been looking. Going after the mother is WRONG.

 

[Fran]

Truthfully, I don't find fault. Just ignorance.
I'm with Witzend. Birth control would solve a great deal of ills in the dealing of unplanned pregnancies and unwanted babies. Sex happens. It is a drive and a natural drive at that. Teaching wise choices and not making sex a "cure" for what ails your teen angst but a normal, healthy drive might take some of the attraction to being "naughty" a little less alluring.

 

[DDD]

Our churches didn't have a foundling door but you could contact the Nuns and Priests and you would be reffered to a service where you could like "anonymously" live in a "normal home" until your baby was born. I was one of those homes. It was a spiritually and emotionally expanding experience for me as a young Mom in her 20's. That was forty years ago. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that all these decades have passed and there is no better choice. Sigh. DDD

 

[Lothlorien]

Step, I love you, BUT, before blaming fire station....How are they supposed to be aware that there was a drop off? It's not that common per capita. Most of the fire stations here are strictly volunteer. I don't find fault anywhere. It's a sad situation. The mother should not be prosecuted, as she did what she thought was correct. I'm sure the fire co. was in shock when they did find the child. If anything, the stipulation in the law should be that after making the drop off, the mother or whoever should make some type of phone call if there is no doorbell or someone to hand the child off to. I can only imagine the grief that girl feels knowing that the child died even though she did what she thought was best for the child. The whole thing is just a shame. No one should be prosecuted for it. The laws are flawed, but simply changing the laws to make the dropper make an anonymous phone call if they didn't hand off to a person would have made the difference in this case.

 

[witzend]

Lothlorien, while it would be nice if the mother was required to make a phone call, anyone who's watch CSI knows that they'll trace the phone call. No girl is ever going to do that if she's just abandoned her baby at a fire station. They say they won't prosecute you if you drop your child at a safe location, but the truth is that they show grainy footage on every news channel of mom requesting information from anyone who might know who she is. There's no reason for them to know if she has done what she has been told is the right thing to do. If they had some sort of options that didn't terrify them, they wouldn't be dropping their babies off in the cold on a doorstep. FWIW, I haven't seen a working pay-phone in decades.

 

[AnnieO]

Loth, I have to agree with Witz on this one. Anonymous phone calls are truly a thing of the past. Even if you block your number it isn't anonymous anymore.

If the law states babies may be dropped at fire stations, then the personnel there should keep their eyes open. Even if they aren't to blame (and I do understand your point of view on that), neither is she - she was doing what she thought she was supposed to.


Witz, I saw a pay phone behind a potted plant at a theater about 6 years ago and was amazed there was one. Last summer it was gone...