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Safe Haven Legislation: 2003 Legislative Session

Five states have considered Safe Haven bills this session. Safe Haven legislation is designed to create newborn Safe Havens where birthparents can leave their infants, usually confidentially, without fear of prosecution or other penalty for child abandonment. The states considering bills in 2003 are: Hawaii (HB 133), Massachusetts (SB766), New Hampshire (HB 104), Virginia (HB 2447/SB 1151), and Wyoming (HB 0056/SF0142). Texas enacted the first Safe Haven law in 1999. Since then, 45 other states have followed suit, though the laws are not uniform.

The current Safe Haven bills being debated this session vary in the ways they address:

• the locations that constitute a Safe Haven, e.g., hospitals, police stations;
• the number of days after the child’s birth within which a birthparent must exercise the right, ranging from 24 hours to 30 days;
• whether the birthparent is afforded immunity from prosecution or an affirmative defense to prosecution/suit;
• whether the Safe Haven must attempt to obtain medical, genetic, and other health-related information from the birthparent;
• the extent to which the birthparent is guaranteed anonymity/confidentiality;
• the extent to which the bill would require notification of the other birthparent; and
• how the bill would interface with laws governing termination of parental rights and adoption.

All of these bills provide protection to the designated Safe Havens and their employees by guaranteeing immunity from liability as long as the employees act in good faith.

Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal signed his state’s Safe Haven legislation into law on March 6, while Virginia Governor Mark Warner did so on March 21.

New Hampshire’s governor signed his state’s bill into law on May 5. The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Human Services and Elderly Affairs held a hearing on its Safe Haven bill (SB 766) on June 18, 2003, and has taken the bill up in executive session. On June 20, Hawaii’s governor vetoed its Safe Haven bill, which had passed overwhelmingly in both houses of the Hawaii legislature.