Mailboxes to "drop" unwanted newborns are provoking controversy in the United States.

The mailbox located inside the Indiana Fire Hall looks like a kind of postal incubator.

The door opens and you see that there is enough space for an average package.

It was installed in December. This is the seventh "baby mailbox" in this state. It is intended for desperate mothers who need help.

They are more complex than it seems at first glance, equipped with temperature controllers and sensors.

When a baby is placed inside, a silent alarm goes off to alert the emergency services and allow the child to be picked up in less than five minutes.

"It's a last resort," insists Priscilla Pruitt of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, an organization that tries to spread its campaign across the country.

According to him, the goal of mailboxes is to combat infanticide that occurs when mothers, often young and unsafe, give birth completely alone and can not cope with the situation.

"Abandonment is a problem," Pruitt told the BBC in the United States.

"These young women do not want to make themselves known or to see them, especially in small towns where everyone knows each other."

However, there is no consensus to say that it is a good idea.

Medieval ages

These mailboxes began appearing for the first time in the United States in 2016, but the concept dates back to the medieval era.

They were known as children found with wheels and were basically cylindrical drums next to hospitals, churches and orphanages.

But in the last 20 years, they have reappeared and can be found in several countries such as Pakistan, South Korea, Poland, Russia, Malaysia, Germany and Switzerland.

They are usually donated by charities, such as Safe Haven Baby Boxes, which explains why there are about 20 people already programmed and they have managed to raise funds to build another 100.

Where are they?

Only three states have approved legislation providing for the installation of mailboxes, and Indiana has the largest number.

In Ohio, there are two, while another should soon be installed in Pennsylvania. In New Jersey, they are waiting for the law currently under discussion to be approved.

In December, the Michigan Senate pbaded the bill, but state governor Rick Snyder then opposed it.

His justification was that there were already laws allowing babies to leave safely and anonymously with the authorities, which was sufficient.

"I do not think it's appropriate to allow parents to abandon a baby by simply dropping it in a place rather than having it badigned to a police officer, a firefighter or an employee. hospital, "he said.

Alternative

Abandoning a baby in the United States is illegal, but the Safe Haven law has eliminated the criminal aspect if the baby is delivered to a safe place or if someone is within their reach.

Texas was the first to approve it in 1999, then the other 49 states followed.

According to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, 131 babies have been born since they started registering cases in 2004.

Mailboxes are presented as an alternative, although it is still difficult to verify their effectiveness.

A Danish research center, Vive, tried to find information in European countries where their use had been approved, but could not find any statistics on the impact it had on the number of babies found dead.

"In Germany, where mailboxes have been in place since 2000, there is no registration," explained Marie Jakobsen, head of Vive's badysis, in an article published in the Copenhagen Post.

For Safe Haven Baby Boxes, the tests appear with the use and emphasize that since 2016, they have already been used three times. In each of them, they say, it is likely that the baby did not survive.

Lesser evil

"It's hard to say that it's a bad idea, but that sounds a bit false," said Michelle Oberman, a law professor at the University of Santa Clara and a legal expert on ethical issues surrounding the Adolescence, pregnancy and motherhood.

"The Safe Shelters Act is the least bad option when the alternative is a baby in a garbage bin, but there are reasons why we have put in place adoption programs for have as much information as possible. "

For her, the main problem is that this type of initiative usually does not reach the people who need it.

"I find it hard to imagine that after the birth of a baby, alone in the bathroom, you will be asked to know the law, to get on a bus or an Uber and to have it. leave it in the mailbox, "Oberman said.

The organization says it works with schools and youth groups, in addition to having a 24-hour phone line serving women.

Religious context

Although it is also difficult to know the total number of filicides in the United States, when a father or mother murders her own son, Chery Meyer, of the Wright State School of Professional Psychology, considers her gravity is often "underestimated".

Meyer believes that the law on safe havens and mailboxes are directly related to how abortion is perceived. "Personal Beliefs and Religion."

When interviewing women for filicide, Meyer asked why they did not have an abortion and many said it was because they did not believe it.

"There is a sad irony there," he added.

For Safe Haven's founder Baby Boxes, Monica Kelsey, who was abandoned after her mother's rape at age 17, explained that it was her motivation to promote the program and her campaign against abortion.

"It's about saving lives," rejecting the fact that mailboxes are controversial.