Baby Safe Haven bill stoped by one senator

[BabySafeHaven]

Below is an e-mail and reply from Senator Rosalyn Baker concerning her blockade of the Hawaii Baby Safe Haven bill. It seems she has decided to stop a child welfare and safety law cold in its tracks, and a law that is currently in effect in 99% of the country.

It's a staggering statement that Hawaii would say that "Our experience doesn't replicate yours." Hawaii has had deadly and near deadly newborn abandonments in the last ten years, and without a Baby Safe Haven law they will happen again. That is if a mainlander student doesn't try to follow the law in one of the 46 other states that has a Baby Safe Haven law and pays for doing the right thing by going to jail or years in Hawaii when she would be immune from prosecution in 99% of the country.

Sadly Senator Baker will need to have hundreds of phone calls, then a ballot question next year that will pass this law without her possible blockade.
Jean & Mike

Thank you for your e-mail. Our experience doesn't replicate yours. We've heard this bill two sessions in a row. Substantial concerns have been raised each time. We will not act on the bill this session.

Best regards.

Senator Rosalyn H. Baker
Health Committee Chair
5th District -- South and West Maui
State Capitol, #220
Honolulu, HI 96813
808-586-6070 voice
808-586-6071 fax
senbaker@capitol.hawaii.gov

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From: DSAngelMom@aol.com [mailtoSAngelMom@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 2:03 PM
To: Sen. Roz Baker
Subject: Testimony for Baby Safe Haven bill in Vermont Today!

Dear Senator Baker,

Just today the State of Vermont make a step forward towards the passage of their Baby Safe Haven law, as they are also one of only four small population sates that do not have a Baby Safe Haven law. One of the lead advocates for passage is Lt. Governor Brian Dubie (R). Below is his testimony as presented just hours ago. It is also similar to the testimony of Lt. Governor Kerry Healey, Ph. D. (R) of Massachusetts who testified in favor of our recently enacted Baby Safe Haven law.

Please consider moving your bill forward towards passage in this session.

Michael Morrisey
Jean Morrisey
The Baby Safe Haven Foundation of New England
15 Celland Road
Lexington, MA 02421
(781) 689-9469

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LT. GOVERNOR BRIAN DUBIE
BABY SAFE HAVENS TESTIMONY - SENATE BILL 27
TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2005

Good morning, Chairman Sears and Vice Chairman Campbell. Today, I am appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of an Act Relative To The Safe Haven Abandonment of Newborns and Infants, the Baby Safe Haven legislation.

I am convinced that Vermont needs Baby Safe Havens legislation because we have been confronted with tragic and near tragic instances where newborns have been abandoned in dangerous and life threatening situations.

Secretary of State Markowitz has told of finding a newborn baby abandoned in a wooded area right here in Montpellier. A miracle occurred that day when she found that baby, but it is a miracle we cannot count on in the future.

That child is alive today purely by happenstance and the good fortune of being discovered before being injured or worse. I firmly believe that only through the enactment of Baby Safe Haven legislation can we proactively work towards bringing an end to these occurrences within our state.

Forty-six states have become sufficiently concerned about unsafe abandonment of newborn infants to have enacted safe havens legislation since Texas became the first state to enact a statewide safe havens law in 1999.

The intent of safe havens legislation is clear: to save infants whose lives are placed at risk because desperate and panicked mothers did not have a safe alternative that this legislation would provide.

I know the members of this committee will become aware of the arguments of critics of safe havens legislation who raise concerns about the legal rights of biological fathers and the fact that abandoned children may never learn of their medical histories or genealogical background, but these valid concerns appear less important to preserving an infant’s life by providing a parent with a safe alternative to abandonment.

Vermont is surrounded by states that have Baby Safe Haven laws, and only Vermont, Nebraska, Alaska, and Hawaii are without safe haven laws. A startling statistic confronts us in Vermont. Ninety-nine percent of the population of the United States lives in a state that has a Baby Safe Haven law. That statistic then correlates into a negative statistic for Vermont in the following manner; ninety-nine percent of out of state college students come from states with Baby Safe Haven laws. Ninety-nine percent of young people who come to Vermont to vacation come from states with a Baby Safe Haven law. There is a drastically high set of odds that would predict that one of these students or vacationers could avail themselves of their home state's Baby Safe Haven law while studying of staying within our borders.

Our own students and young women are taught all about Baby Safe Haven laws by network programs such as CBS's "Joan of Arcadia," NBC's "ER," WB's "Seventh Heaven," and several more. Our young citizens deserve our proactive stance, not an inability to properly legislate so we fall behind virtually the entire country on an issue of safety and child welfare.

I have been in contact with advocates who worked for the passage of the Massachusetts Baby Safe Haven law, and Lt. Governor Healey of Massachusetts is that state's leading advocate for its proper implementation. That law has just seen two safely surrendered babies in the last month. One month before passage of the Massachusetts law last summer two newborns' lives were dangerously close to ending before they were miraculously found minutes before succumbing to exposure and blood loss.

I will work with Lt. Governor Healey to bring their education program to Vermont. I have also been contacted by former State Representative Phyllis Woods of Dover, New Hampshire. Representative Woods was the sponsor of the New Hampshire Baby Safe Haven bill. That New Hampshire law should serve as our exact model, as it includes as a safe haven any EMT or paramedic vehicle that can meet "at an agreed upon location following a 911 call." This is an extremely important point of their law due to their unmanned police and fire stations.

In closing, I would like to thank the members of the committee for this opportunity to testify in support of Baby Safe Havens legislation.

[scrivener]

Re: Baby Safe Haven bill stoped by one senator

I am mostly in favor of these laws, but you would better help your cause to keep your arguments reasonable. You say 99% of the rest of the country has laws like these, but then say it's really forty-six out of fifty states. Don't you think 92 percent of the country is impressive enough a figure not to need inflating?

Perhaps you could tell us more about this law, and how it is that "just one senator" blocked its passing. What are the pros and cons, and why do you think this bill has had trouble in Hawaii, a child-welfare state if ever there was one?

[1stwahine]

Re: Baby Safe Haven bill stoped by one senator

theres a thread started by helen on this subject on "baby tossed on road in florida" here at hawaii threads! check it out, lots of information from fellow members.

[pzarquon]

Re: Baby Safe Haven bill stoped by one senator

Hawaii has had deadly and near deadly newborn abandonments in the last ten years, and without a Baby Safe Haven law they will happen again.

I'm trying to think of a recent case, but I'm drawing a blank. I have no doubt babies are abandoned here, but given our size, it certainly isn't a runaway problem.

I'd be very curious to hear what Baker's concerns are, and what the primary arguments against safe haven laws might be. On the surface, they seem pretty reasonable, but I certainly don't think people oppose them just because they're big ol' meanies. There must be issues relating to losing opportunities to prosecute particularly grievous cases of child abandonment or abuse. Say, a mother losing her cool and shaking her baby into permanent brain damage, then slipping through some loophole by taking the baby to a "safe haven" drop point and running off.

I agree, the case forsafe haven laws isn't helped by melodrama or exaggeration. Passionate pleas make for good copy or TV, but we need more if you're going to talk policy.

[pzarquon]

Re: Baby Safe Haven bill stoped by one senator

Answering my own question, there are of course various cases made against safe haven laws online. Of course, they're just as prone to melodrama and ALL CAPS HYSTERIA, which goes to show neither side in any debate has the lock on reason.

I was surprised to not find prosecutorial immunity among the key issues, although I guess laws against abuse and murder would trump a safe haven law anyway. Instead, they focus on (1.) the impact on adoptions, (2.) the marginalization of fathers' rights, and the (3.) increase in the number of abandonments in some states where these laws are in place, supposedly showing that we're giving parents an "easy out" from responsibilities they should accept.

Adoption groups are apparently the most vehement opponents of "safe haven" laws. Here's one groups' collection of statements against them.

Again, from what I've read, I'm sympathetic to "safe haven" laws. But the way to win arguments against those who oppose them is education. I sure learned a lot just by reading up on the other side.

Oh, and as for one senator blowing the deal? Thus is the nature of committees and committee chairmanship. Apparently, though, a safe haven law actually made it here, a few years back. It was vetoed by the governor.