Ga. bill pushes anonymous drop boxes for unwanted babies
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) — Safe Haven Laws exist in every state. These laws allow a parent to surrender their child to any fire station, hospital, or police station and not face prosecution. However, they have to hand their baby to someone. How old that child can be varies by state. In Georgia, that law allows 30 days for parents to decide.
Now across the country, gaining is another option – Baby Boxes.
House Bill 1030, as it was called last session would bring these Baby Boxes to Georgia. It will have a new bill number in the next session. This completely anonymous option puts temperature-controlled boxes into the side of fire stations with an alarm for firefighters once the box door is shut and the child has been placed there. Many states across the U.S. have them, but South Carolina and Georgia do not, and some people want that to change.
Local organizations make final push for Christmas donations
While many of us are getting ready to wrap our gifts to put under the tree, local organizations are making a final push for donations to help kids in need.
“It never leaves my mind. I fight for it every day and I will continue to fight for it every day until it es in Georgia,” said Amie Anderson, founder of Bringing Newborn Safety Devices to Georgia.
Anderson has been working alongside legislators for nearly 18 months now, trying to get approval for a House Bill to allow baby box installation, she’s formed a group called Bringing Newborn Safety Devices to Georgia, which has gained attention from many communities around our state.
This bill was introduced last session but didn’t in time. Just ahead in January, Anderson says it will be introduced in both the House and the Senate as identical bills.
“Hopefully that’ll make it number one, easy to get a vote across and it will make it easy when crossover time comes to approve it because they will have already approved it in the same exact language,” said Anderson.
Ga. lawmakers want limits on trans girls playing women’s sports
The state Senate’s Special Committee on the Protection of Women’s Sports unanimously approved several recommendations.
She’s been working with several Georgia representatives, to make this anonymous option available to new parents. She said she’s been working with Representative Clint Crowe, Senator Brian Strickland, and Representative Steven Sainz.
“With the baby boxes that offer the anonymity of not having to do face-to-face right now, Georgia law actually says that you have to do a person-to-person surrender. And we just want that language change so that, um, communities are not required to have these obviously, but have the option of putting in the baby boxes or the newborn. We like to use ‘newborn safety devices’ just because it is not a vendor bill,” said Anderson.
She reiterates the safe option that it gives to mothers and fathers and hopes others reach out to their state legislators to encourage for the bill.
Columbia County hospital ‘still on track’ for 2026 opening
Columbia County’s new and only hospital looks to meet its 2026 projected opening date, we learned.
“Think how brave she had to be to walk in there and hand us that baby, as opposed to putting it in a box or leaving it at a doorstep or all those things that options she could have chosen,” said Anderson.
We’re going to continue to follow the path of this legislation and will update you as it progresses through both the Georgia House and the Senate.
Copyright 2024 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
