Desperate mothers may soon be able to leave their newborns at a hospital, without fear of prosecution. A bill setting up Iowa health care facilities as “safe havens” is ready for debate in a Senate committee this weekSenator John Redwine, a doctor from Sioux City, doesn’t expect many women to take advantage of the law. Redwine says the number of women discarding newborns in Iowa is very low. Redwine says he hopes women will take advantage of the law as opposed to other detrimental decisions. A woman could take her up to four-day-old baby to any health care facility and not be required to leave her name. She’d relinquish her parental rights when she dropped off her child. The baby’s father would have to come forward within a month to claim the child as his own. That means the baby could be cleared for adoption within 30 days.
