OPINION:
Almost 20 years ago, I was a baby abandoned outdoors who might have died of exposure to the elements. Today, I watch in horror as stories like mine continue to crop up in the news. Sometimes, these babies survive, and sometimes, they don’t.
In the recent case of 19-year-old Alexee Trevizo from New Mexico, her newborn son didn’t make it after being stuffed in a trash can and hidden under another clean liner bag.
Not even two weeks ago, Jennifer Sahr was sentenced to four years in prison after abandoning her baby in a box along a South Carolina highway.
This came not a month after an arrest was made in connection with another baby abandoned in a plastic bag in the Georgia woods, thrown out like trash. Amazingly, Baby India survived.
My heart goes out to these precious babies who have been abandoned by people who perhaps lacked resources or were simply unaware of the laws that protect both them and their child. These stories are much like my own, and I am grateful to have made it out alive.
I was born in China while the one-child policy ravaged my birth country, and during that time, was one of China’s “forgotten children.” These were the cast-off children who happened to be second born or female in a male-dominated society, abandoned by our parents for the chance of being able to have a son.
Fortunately, I was discovered outside a market by an employee who surrendered me to the police before I was brought to an orphanage. I was later adopted at age 2 by my amazing mother in the United States.
Many people who lived through the dark decades of China’s one-child policy have testified to seeing babies dead on the streets, in trash bags, or outside the markets. Few took pity on them; their skin would be bitten by insects, and many starved or perished after being left in the harsh outdoors.
As someone who lived through this, I don’t support killing these babies in the womb so that they don’t die later like this. I am an advocate for making sure all parents know they can safely surrender their children, thanks to the United States’ safe haven laws.
In all 50 states, these laws guarantee that, without harm to the child or legal consequences for the parents, babies can be surrendered at approved locations. While the specifics vary from state to state, these locations usually include fire stations and hospitals.
In some states, safe haven baby boxes are also installed, allowing babies to be left and first responders and medical personnel immediately alerted. These boxes give parents anonymity and the peace of mind that their child is in a safe place.
According to the National Safe Haven Alliance’s 2022 report, more than 120 babies were safely surrendered in the past year. Sadly, however, more than 1,600 babies have been abandoned illegally across the country since 1999, putting both child and parent at risk.
To solve this problem, it’s crucial that we educate and create awareness of safe haven laws to protect babies from being abandoned in unsafe locations and ensure parents feel they have life-affirming options to relinquish their child. For example, Safe Haven Baby Boxes reports that since its first box was established in Indiana in 2016, there have been no deceased abandoned infants in the Hoosier State.
In addition, safe haven laws facilitate new families for adoptive parents who want children. We saw this in January when baby Zoey was safely surrendered in Florida and adopted by the firefighter who found her in a safe haven box. He and his wife, who had been trying to have a child for 10 years, officially made Zoey their daughter in April.
There are countless couples like Zoey’s new parents in this scenario. It’s estimated that almost 2 million families are hoping to adopt in the United States; that’s 36 hopeful families for every child placed for adoption.
Not even one of our children, the youngest and the most vulnerable among us, deserves to be left alone and abandoned to die — especially when so many long to love them.
In post-Roe America, as our nation continues to debate the protection of preborn children, let’s proactively increase the number of safe haven baby boxes and spread awareness on how infants can be safely surrendered to prevent more needless deaths. Their lives, like my own, are worth it.
• Shaohannah Tavares is Students for Life of America’s Capital Area regional coordinator.
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