D.A. Reminds Parents: Baby Drop-Offs Allowed
A new state law allows people to drop off newborn babies at hospitals without threat of prosecution, but infants are still being abandoned and dying, the Orange County district attorney said this week.
The statute, which took effect Jan. 1, “is a really good law, but more people need to know about it,” Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas said in a news release.
The law allows any parent or person having lawful custody the option of leaving a baby 72 hours or younger with any employee on duty at any hospital emergency room.
In recent cases, a 15-year-old girl was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in March for the 1999 death of her baby, and a 40-year-old woman was charged May 17 with murder in the death of a baby placed in a dumpster.
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