No

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by Martie Lownsberry

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Imagine a small two year old who in his short life, has spent days on end without proper food, in dirty clothes, often ignored by his mother, being carried into a large hospital with a note on his shirt telling the world she no longer wants him. He's dirty, frightened, and crying.

Then a nurse walks by, sees the child, picks him up and after reading the note cuddles him close to her as she calls the authorities.

A short time later, the child has been bathed, fed, and is sleeping is a clean room in the home of caring adults. He is safe for the first time in his life.

The mother, a drug addict, using the safe haven law in her state to protect herself from prosecution has turned this child she no longer wants over to a place where he will find a safe harbor and have a chance to grow up having a more normal life than she could ever give him.

But in doing so she has raised a question in the minds of many law makers, and the general public. Is America's safe haven laws, designed to protect unwanted children good for society?

The answer is no. No law that allows a person to walk away from the responsibility of caring for their own child is good for society as a whole. It is teaching people, that they can walk away from even their most crucial responsibilities, we are creating a whole subculture of people who will eventually become a drain on society in every way possible.

On the other hand, this law has probably saved the lives of countless children over the last few years.

We in this country have been raised on the notion that the good of society should always be considered over that of an individual. Every right we enjoy as individuals comes with the caveat that we have these rights as long as they do not interfere with the rights of another.

Sometimes, however, we must consider the rights of an individual over that of society. Unless and until we can insure that parents will love and care for the children they give birth to, then we as a society must protect the unwanted children of this world.

While it may seem unfair to many that a person who abandons their child goes free of punishment, the alternative is worse. A child whose parent does not want them and does not care for them properly may grow up following in their parents foot steps. That is the good news. They could also grow up being abused, or not grow up at all.

If this parent has two or three children that she does not care for, then the problems in the future will magnify times the number of children she has. The problem will continue to grow, there will be more and more children abandoned in unsafe places, abused, or killed.

By allowing these parents to abandoned their children to a safe haven, we have an opportunity to provide these children with the kind of role models that will enable them to grow up to be productive members of society, thus lessening the drain on society in the future.

More importantly we will be saving the life of America's children, one child at a time.

Opponents to capital punishment have often said that they would rather see ten guilty men go free than have one innocent man die. In the case of our safe haven law's we are letting guilty people go free in the hope of saving thousands of innocent lives.

While the Safe Haven laws may not be good for society, we as a society cannot do anything less than protect our most innocent citizens our children.

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