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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 16, 2018 01:17 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Michele Brooks |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Adding Urgent Care Centers to the Safe Haven Law |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation amending Pennsylvania’s Newborn Protection Act, to add urgent care centers to the list of “safe havens” where a parent may surrender a newborn. This bill supplements provisions passed recently in House Bill 1139, now Act 68 of 2017, which adds emergency medical responders to the list of caregivers who may accept newborns relinquished by a parent. Urgent care centers, which have been growing in popularity and number in recent years, would be another safe place that could accept newborns, broadening the list of currently designated caregivers --hospitals, police stations and fire stations. Safe Haven laws, or “Baby Moses” laws, have been passed in numerous states since the 1990s after a string of infanticide cases in the Midwest. This bill and similar laws are designed to decriminalize the leaving of an unharmed infant with a responsible caregiver and to protect infants from harm by providing a safe haven for them when a parent is no longer able to care for a child. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation to protect newborns. |
Introduced as SB1246