Stung by the abandonments of children as old as 17 under Nebraska's brand-new safe-haven law, the governor and lawmakers agreed Monday to narrow the law's broad wording to protect only the parents of newborns from prosecution.
Forty of the Legislature's 49 senators would amend the law so it applies only to infants up to 3 days old, legislative Speaker Mike Flood said at a news conference. The age cap would change the Nebraska law from the most lenient to one of the nation's most restrictive.
That's a big pendulum-swing. I guess all children don't deserve protection after all (see first link above for reference).
And interesting that I learn about this from a Florida paper.
2 comments:
How are they gonna know if the baby is 3 days old?
The original law (as I understood it) was supposed to cover any child, but they could only be abandoned if they were in immediate danger. Of course then all the parent had to do was say that they were on the edge and were afraid they'd snap and they could avoid prosecution. I don't have much hope for this change in the bill. I think people are going to continue to drop off kids regardless of whether or not the law is changed.
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