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Giving unwanted newborns a true chance at life

Roughly a half-dozen babies have been dropped off at the San Angelo Fire Department since they implemented the Safe Haven Law.

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Recent incidents that made headlines across Texas have served as a reminder of the nation wide Safe Haven Law. A law that allows mother's to drop off their babies under 60 days old at businesses equip with medical staff like hospitals and fire stations.

On October 8th, hours after a mother gave birth to a baby girl, she made the difficult decision to drive to a Houston fire station and ultimately leave the baby in the hands of strangers, never looking back.

Just over a week before that, on September 26th, a newborn baby was dropped off at a Fort Worth fire station. Officials confirm it was a girl that was dropped off by her parent that Thursday morning. The department says this is the department's third baby to be dropped off in the past year and a half. All 43 fire stations in the Fort Worth area serve as a safe place for newborn babies to be dropped off.

These two instances might've made headlines, but they aren't as uncommon as some might think. Some states also call the "Safe Haven Law" the "Baby Moses Law". It was enacted in 1999 following a string of cases where newborns were found abandoned or neglected in poor condition across the U.S.. The state of Texas was the first to jump on board. Shortly after, several other states began implementing similar laws and by 2008, all 50 U.S. states had some form of it.

These days, most hospitals and fire stations are considered a safe place to drop off newborns as the alternative to what could be so much worse.

Santos Elizondo with San Angelo Fire Department says he believes the last time their department had a baby dropped was in 2018. He says there have been roughly less than a dozen babies dropped off at their stations since they implemented the law at their department about 5 years ago.

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