Controversy in the United States for the installation of mailboxes to leave unwanted babies

Thirteen mailboxes to drop unwanted babies They have settled in the states of Indiana, Ohio and Arizona, USA. This is an initiative of the American organization Safe Heaven Baby Boxes (SHBB) which continues to reduce the number of deaths caused by the abandonment of newborns on the streets.

The project, founded by Monica Kelsey In 2016, it proposes an alternative to the so-called "refuge" offered by the government, which they require identification mothers who leave their children in them.

"People who make this tough decision are usually very young and they do not want anyone to find out what happened"Kelsey explained." Faced with the feelings of shame and guilt that it generates, many choose to leave their babies at the gates of hospitals, police stations or fire stations ", he finished.

Unlike these cases, newborns can stay outdoors for long periods of time and to die of cold or malnutrition, mailboxes designed by SHBB have a silent alarm inside this da emergency notification after 30 seconds. In addition, the identities of parents they remain anonymous.

Until the moment, only three states have pbaded legislation for the installation of the devices in their fire stations. The Michigan governor, Rick Snyider, who vetoed the law for saying it was "inappropriate for parents to abandon their baby simply by dropping it in the same place" is one of the detractors of the measure. According to the manager, the right thing to do is to hand them over to a police officer, fire brigade or hospital staff.

Before the controversy, Kesley said that mailboxes "are the last alternative for women in crisis and for their children." However, for the moment there are no statistics reflecting the impact of this measure on the number of babies found dead in the open air.