Our Throw Away Society

We live in a society in which if something breaks you throw it away instead of fixing it. If you are unhappy with your spouse, you divorce them. With your job, you get a new one. With your friends, you dump them.

But now the ultimate in throw away ideas has come our way!

Introducing the throw away child!

For in Nebraska it is legal now to dump your children at a hospital. Not just babies but any child up to the age of 19.

Nebraska's new safe-haven law allowing parents to abandon unwanted children at hospitals with no questions asked is unique in a significant way: It goes beyond babies and potentially permits the abandonment of anyone under 19.

While lawmakers may not have intended it, the month-old law raises the possibility that frustrated parents could drop off misbehaving teens or even severely disabled older children with impunity.

"Whether the kid is disabled or unruly or just being a hormonal teenager, the state is saying: 'Hey, we have a really easy option for you,"' said Adam Pertman, executive director of a New York adoption institute and a frequent critic of safe-haven laws.

Nebraska's approach is surprising because it is the last state in the nation to adopt a safe-haven law.

But instead of following the lead of other states, which focus on the abandonment of newborns, lawmakers here wanted to extend the protection to all minors. And in Nebraska, that goes all the way up to age 19.

"All children deserve our protection," said Sen. Tom White, who helped broaden the measure. "If we save one child from being abused, it's well, well worth it."

White said it doesn't matter if that child is an infant or three years old or in the care of a parent or baby sitter. As for what constitutes a minor, he refers to common law, which interprets it to be anyone under age 14.

State Sen. Arnie Stuthman, who introduced the original bill dealing only with infants, agreed to the compromise after the bill became stalled in debate.

"The main interest I have is that it gives the mother or a parent another option of what to do with a child before they do something drastic," he said.

And since the law does not specify, it technically allows anyone, not just a parent, to legally surrender custody. Most other states narrowly define the role of the person surrendering the child.

Some hospitals have fielded questions from the public about the law, but no children have been dropped off.

California, for example, allows parents to legally abandon a child at a hospital or other designated safe zones within 72 hours of birth.

I wonder what they were smoking in Nebraska to pass such a bill. It is one thing to offer a safe haven for an infant from a mother who is scared and doesn't want the responsibility of raising a child. Such women normally kill the baby or throw it out alive in the garbage. But this is an abomination. It says to a parent that if you don't like the child now, you can get rid of it.

I'm sorry but a child is not a broken toaster. A child is a living, breathing person with feelings and rights. What the State of Nebraska has done is to make children no better than garbage. And that is just wrong.

For no child is garbage!