A bill passed unanimously in the Florida House and advancing in the Senate would allow fire departments, hospitals and EMS stations to install high-tech “newborn infant safety devices,” commonly referred to as “baby boxes,” into their walls.
, do not specify what device would be used or who would supply it, but nearly all such boxes are manufactured and distributed by one company: Indiana-based Safe Haven Baby Boxes, whose founder and CEO, Monica Kelsey, was herself abandoned as an infant.
Meanwhile, as soon as the baby is placed in the box, an alarm goes off inside the fire station or hospital, which must be staffed 24 hours a day. The box is temperature-controlled and comes with a dual alarm system and a surveillance system that lets employees monitor the inside. The closest first responder is immediately dispatched to retrieve the newborn from the box and take it to the hospital.
The Florida Senate passed a six-week abortion ban on Monday, and the House is expected to take up its version of the bill soon. Some say the timing of the baby box legislation is no coincidence. “Me being pro-life or pro-choice or having a stance has nothing to do with an organization keeping babies out of dumpsters,” she told the Sun Sentinel.
Within the Legislature, supporters of the bill include Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the abortion debate, who say that it simply offers another option to help mothers and save their babies’ lives. Both organizations offer hotlines for mothers thinking of abandoning their babies. Both advertise themselves, their services, and phone numbers in signage at safe-haven locations like fire departments and hospitals. But A Safe Haven for Newborns believes in direct hand-offs, not boxes.
A Safe Haven for Newborns’ funding comes from the Florida Department of Health, Silverio said, the rest from wealthy donors. According to a recent tax form, the organization received about three-quarters of its funding, or $300,000, in government grants, and a little over $100,000 in fundraising revenue.“If the funding ceases to exist, our organization continues, and we will continue to do what we’re doing,” he said.
Book said she had worked with A Safe Haven for Newborns this session and in the past, but maintained that her opposition to the bill was genuine. “It’s a box,” Silverio said. “Somebody could go there and put anything in that box. It could be a bomb. It could be. In this day and age with what’s happening around the world and the U.S, it’s a possibility.”
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