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

Thirteen mailboxes destined to drop unwanted babies have been installed in the states of Indiana, Ohio and Arizona, United States. It is an initiative of the American organization Safe Heaven Baby Boxes (SHBB) that aims to reduce the number of deaths due to the abandonment of newborns in the streets.

The project, founded by Monica Kelsey in 2016, offers an alternative to the "refuge" proposed by the government, which requires the identification of mothers who leave their children.

"The people making this tough decision are usually very young and do not want anyone to find out what happened," Kelsey said. "Faced with feelings of shame and guilt, many choose to leave their babies at the doors of hospitals, police stations or fire stations," he said.

In contrast to these cases, in which newborns can stay outdoors for long periods of time and die from cold or malnutrition, SHBB designed mailboxes include a silent alarm that alerts in case of emergency after 30 seconds In addition, the identity of the parents remains anonymous.

Up to now, only three states have pbaded legislation to install 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, no statistics reflect the impact of this measure on the number of babies found dead in the open air.

Source: TN