RaVen Blackehart
November 22nd, 2008, 08:28 AM
Nebraska lawmakers voted Friday to change a controversial safe-haven law by restricting the age under which a child can be dropped off at a hospital without the parents being prosecuted.
Nebraska lawmakers Brad Ashford, front, and Arnie Stuthman vote for the age restriction Friday.
Nebraska lawmakers Brad Ashford, front, and Arnie Stuthman vote for the age restriction Friday.
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On a vote of 43-5, the state Senate -- the only chamber in Nebraska's Legislature -- approved final passage of the revision. The change scraps the current version of the safe-haven law -- which has no age limitation -- and instead says that no child older than 30 days can be dropped off.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has pledged to sign the revised version of the law.
All 50 states have safe-haven laws, intended to cut down on infanticide and the number of infants abandoned in unsafe locations, according to the Web site of the National Safe Haven Alliance, a group in support of such laws. Only the District of Columbia lacks such a law, the alliance says.
But unlike other state's laws, which establish a time limit for the infants to be given up, Nebraska's law merely said "child," which could be interpreted as anyone under the age of 18.
Thirty-five children -- all but six of them older than 10 -- have been dropped off at Nebraska hospitals since the law took effect in September, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Five came from other states, with parents traveling to Nebraska from Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Florida and Georgia.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/21/nebraska.safe.haven/index.html
Nebraska lawmakers Brad Ashford, front, and Arnie Stuthman vote for the age restriction Friday.
Nebraska lawmakers Brad Ashford, front, and Arnie Stuthman vote for the age restriction Friday.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image
On a vote of 43-5, the state Senate -- the only chamber in Nebraska's Legislature -- approved final passage of the revision. The change scraps the current version of the safe-haven law -- which has no age limitation -- and instead says that no child older than 30 days can be dropped off.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has pledged to sign the revised version of the law.
All 50 states have safe-haven laws, intended to cut down on infanticide and the number of infants abandoned in unsafe locations, according to the Web site of the National Safe Haven Alliance, a group in support of such laws. Only the District of Columbia lacks such a law, the alliance says.
But unlike other state's laws, which establish a time limit for the infants to be given up, Nebraska's law merely said "child," which could be interpreted as anyone under the age of 18.
Thirty-five children -- all but six of them older than 10 -- have been dropped off at Nebraska hospitals since the law took effect in September, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Five came from other states, with parents traveling to Nebraska from Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Florida and Georgia.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/21/nebraska.safe.haven/index.html