Kirk/Schmidt Highlight Effort to Expand Safe Haven Laws
Press Release
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) joined members of the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation today to endorse expansion of the Illinois Safe Haven Law to include college campus police stations as locations where parents could relinquish unharmed newborns without fear of prosecution.
"The more "safe havens' we can identify for desperate parents to deliver healthy but unwanted newborns, the more lives we can save," said Senator Kirk, an SAB honorary trustee.
"Anything we can do to save innocent lives is worth the effort," said Illinois Sen. Suzi Schmdit (R-Lake Villa), a co-sponsor of legislation in the Illinois General Assembly that also would expand the "Safe Haven" sanctuaries to Illinois State Police stations.
"University police departments serve an inexperienced and often immature young adult population where unplanned pregnancies occur. On any campus there is a real possibility of a newborn infant being abandoned to the environment or other unsafe places," said Dawn Geras, SAB's president and founder, and vice-president of the National Safe Haven Alliance.
"My heart goes out to all the scared, new and frightened mothers out there that do not know where to turn to. I want them to know that they do have options and leaving their newborn infant at any designated "Safe Haven' is one of them," said Maya Kirk, an SAB volunteer.
The Kirk family adopted Maya in 1973, a year after she was abandoned at the Ma Po Gu police station in Seoul, Korea, when she was 8 months old.
The Chicago-based, not-for-profit volunteer organization has been a national leader in efforts to establish "safe havens" for newborn infants who might otherwise be abandoned in dumpsters and other dangerous locations.
The group's work led to the 2001 enactment of the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act, which established hospitals, emergency care facilities, police stations and staffed fire stations as "safe havens." The law states that parents who bring a healthy newborn-defined as 30 days old or younger--to a "safe haven," and hand the infant over to a staff member, cannot be prosecuted for abandonment.
Proposed legislation currently pending before the Illinois General Assembly would add college campus police stations to the list of "safe havens," where newborns could legally be abandoned. The legislation, HB 106, also would add Illinois State Police stations to the list of "safe havens."
Since the 2001 law was enacted, Geras said at least 67 babies have been safely and legally relinquished in Illinois. Out of the 62 infants who were illegally abandoned, 30 did not survive-highlighting the need to increase the public's awareness of the "Safe Haven Law," Geras said.
To that end, SAB launched a bus-shelter poster campaign earlier this month highlighting "safe haven" locations. All 25 Chicago Police districts are participating in the effort to increase public awareness about the law, Geras said.
In addition, Geras said that her organization has distributed more than 10,000 posters, brochures, posters and other items as part of its celebration of "National Safe Haven Awareness Month," which occurs every April.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn issued an official proclamation last month declaring April 2011 to be "Save Abandoned Babies Month" in honor of SAB's efforts to protection infants.
Geras said her group has been at the forefront of efforts to expand the "safe haven" laws to all 50 U.S. states since she and a group of volunteers first met together in 2000 to organize their efforts.
SAB's leadership led to the establishment of the National Safe Haven Alliance, which in 2008 celebrated the enactment of "safe haven" laws in the states of Alaska and Nebraska-marking the establishment of "safe haven" laws in all 50 U.S. states.
The organization's work toward passage of Illinois legislation to add Illinois State Police and college campus police stations to the official list of "safe haven" is just one of many efforts that has made SAB a national leader in the field of protecting abandoned infants, Geras said.
The group never stops working on increasing public awareness about the Illinois law to help prevent the unnecessary deaths of unwanted infants, Geras said.
Besides Senator Kirk, other honorary trustees on SAB's board include U.S. Rep. Robert Dold (R-Winnetka), Illinois Sens. Iris Y. Martinez (D-Chicago) and Donne E. Trotter (D-Chicago), and Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan.
Additional information about SAB is available through:
Dawn Geras
President
www.SaveAbandonedBabies.org
www.facebook.com/SaveAbandonedBabies
Phone: 312-440-0229 Fax: 312-440-0805
55 E. Erie St., #2905
Chicago, IL 60611-2255
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