The NBC series “Chicago Fire” is under fire from safe haven law advocates worried that viewers might be misled by a recent episode involving a baby box. The problem, as they see it, is that while some states allow the boxes, Illinois doesn’t.
But the problem with safe haven laws is far more serious. As experts on infanticide, we’ve watched every state enact some version of a “safe haven” as a way to save newborns who might otherwise be abandoned in dumpsters. Our research made us skeptical that the laws were reaching their target. Then that target expanded. In striking down Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court opined that by permitting anonymous drop-offs, safe havens sufficiently address the problem of unwanted children.
Knowing that abortion bans will lead to more infant abandonment, we set out to understand how safe havens work. We found chaos. Nobody is collecting the information needed to safeguard infants and their parents, let alone confront the societal forces leading people to use these havens in the first place.
