SAN ANTONIO – A new option is on the way for people to surrender babies in Texas safely.
After two people left a newborn at a local church last month, KSAT reported an update about where you legally can and cannot leave a baby.
People have been allowed to safely surrender babies under the Baby Moses Law for years.
RELATED: Where can you safely surrender a baby? Recent San Antonio incident shows need for more education
Under the Baby Moses Law, there will be no questions asked if someone surrenders a baby that is:
- Within 60 days old
- Unharmed
- Taken to a fire station or hospital
Come September, the law is getting a big legal update.
“September 1, Texas is going to be celebrating now that we can add baby boxes to fire stations,” said Eagle Flight Advocacy CEO Pamela Allen.
Allen has been leading the fight to get this law passed.
“The baby box is temperature controlled. Once it closes, it locks. There’s cameras, there’s alarms, and medical staff will be notified of that going off. And that baby will have a responder there to them within the first two to three minutes,” she said.
She said the box would also have a packet of resources for the person who leaves the baby.
“On the South Side, 78211 has a teen pregnancy rate of 59%, and we have our outreach center there. So we want to target those areas that seem to be more of a higher risk of having these incidents happen,” Allen said.
Allen has been lobbying for the boxes for years and believes the recent change of abortion laws fueled support since the need is now greater.
“I bury abandoned and abused infants. So one of the questions that we’re asked is: ‘Are you afraid you might be burying more babies?’” Allen said.
It was a fear, and she has seen an increase in several parts of Texas, but not Bexar County yet.
Allen hopes the baby boxes will keep it from happening here.
“To what extent? We don’t know yet. That’s something we’re still in the planning phase and looking at,” said San Antonio Fire Department spokesperson Joe Arrington.
Arrington said the department first has to evaluate its fire stations.
Some fire stations are older, so they must assess what infrastructure could support these boxes.
However, Arrington said they will likely be added to all newly constructed stations.
“The key takeaway is, whether a fire station or a hospital has a baby box or not, get that baby into medical care. Hand them off to a medical professional who can help. We will not place judgment, not place blame on the parents, but get the baby to the care that it needs,” Arrington said.
KSAT reached out to SAPD about the case involving the baby left at the church. Police said there is no update right now, and the investigation is ongoing.
Although the baby survived, those people didn’t leave the baby at a fire station or hospital and instead left the baby outside a church in the heat. That means they could be prosecuted.
