Senate passes safe haven bill

The Iowa Senate unanimously passed a bill last night that would let mothers drop unwanted newborns at a hospital, without fear they’d be prosecuted for abandoning their child. Senator Nancy Boettger, a republican from Harlan, was the bill’s floor manager. She says it’s a bill they all wish they didn’t have to do, but maybe it will save the lives of some children.The discovery of a dead, abandoned baby in Chelsea earlier this year prompted lawmakers working on the concept to iron out their differences and pass the bill. She says the bill will give a desperate person an alternative to killing her baby, before or after it is born.Senator John Redwine, a republican from Sioux City, is a doctor who says the bill may help prevent twin tragedies of a dead child and a mother that could go to prison for the rest of her life.The bill must also be approved by the Iowa House, and signed by the Governor before it becomes law.