Is Iowa’s safe haven law rescuing every child it could?

If it were better known that Iowa has a safe haven law, perhaps 18-year-old Ashley Truitt of Solon would not have dropped her baby down a Florida trash chute, said Truitt's former boyfriend.

The law gives women a 14-day window after giving birth to leave their newborn at any health-care facility, confidentially and without fear of prosecution. Since the law's passage in 2001, 14 new mothers have walked out of hospital or clinic doors empty-handed, leaving their babies behind to the safety of the law.

Jason Black of Fairfield, now 23, is unsure if Truitt knew Iowa and Florida had safe haven laws or if she had planned on killing the baby. He hadn't heard of Iowa's safe haven law at the time and said this information needs more publicity to be effective.

“I hope girls can realize that it is an option that they don't have to regret … so my situation can be avoided,” said Black.

In June 2007, Truitt gave birth to a baby girl in a resort bathroom while vacationing with her family and Black in Pompano Beach, Fla. She threw the newborn down a seven-story trash chute.

Black said he and Truitt's family suspected she was pregnant. “First it was just a thought,” said Black. “We asked her nicely, then pointed fingers, saying, ‘You are.' ”

He said Truitt firmly denied the allegations, running pregnancy tests under water to show negative results and even forging a doctor's note when he took her to Planned Parenthood.

“I looked past a lot of things because I cared about her,” said Black.

Black said memories of their trip to Florida still cause him anxiety. “I think about it damn near every day,” said Black.

Truitt was charged with murder. In December 2008, she pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child and is serving a 13-year sentence in Florida prisons.

Black said a DNA test confirmed he was not the father of the child. “I would have loved it anyways,” said Black. “… Things could have turned out so differently.”

Truitt's case prompted Iowa's only public awareness campaign for the law during the summer of 2007. Former first lady Mari Culver lead the effort, with the state Department of Human Services and the Iowa Hospital Association dedicating $55,000 to television ads.

Law's origin

Iowa's safe haven law was the state's response to the “baby Chelsea” case. On a frosty February morning more than 10 years ago, 17-year-old Nicole Plum abandoned her newborn to die in a snowy field outside Chelsea.

“We felt we ought to do something,” said Ken Veenstra, a former state legislator who helped write the law. “We wanted to create an alternative that did not involve destroying a child.”

DHS manages the care and placement of safe haven babies.

“It's the final fallback, if nothing else has worked,” said DHS spokesman Roger Munns.

Despite the law, he said, at least five Iowa babies, including Truitt's, have died from abandonment since 2001.

All 50 states now have safe haven laws. Texas was the first in the nation in 1999 with its Baby Moses Law, named after the Old Testament tale of baby Moses abandoned in a basket but who grew to be a powerful man. That year, Texas reported more than 800 abandoned babies, 50 of which were found in Dumpsters. Nebraska was the last state to pass a safe haven law in 2008.

“There has been no sustained public information about the law,” said Munns, “but I don't think you can say the law is a failure, because there were 14 babies saved.”

Diane Sorensen, a licensed master social worker at St. Luke's hospital in Cedar Rapids, also considers the law successful. She said all entrances at St. Luke's carry safe haven signs. When a mother surrenders her baby, staff rush it to the emergency room, where a neonatologist determines its health and stability. After two days, DHS places the baby for adoption.

“It protects newborn babies, giving moms another option who feel they don't have very many options,” said Sorensen.

Sustained awareness

In other states, non-government organizations have managed sustained awareness efforts, such as the Gloria M. Silverio Foundation in Florida. Nick Silverio has single-handedly tracked 160 safe haven babies since Florida's law passed in 2000.

“Consistency is the key in everything we've done,” said Silverio. “If you do it once in a while, it's not going to be effective. You have to keep at it.”

The foundation sponsors billboards, bus signs, educational materials for schools, and does media interviews to raise awareness. Silverio established a 24/7 help line to assist pregnant women in need, which he said receives roughly eight calls a day. The line offers information about the safe haven law and adoption, but encourages women to keep their babies if they can.

Organizations in other states now call Silverio for advice. Debby Howland, coordinator of the Kansas City Child Abuse Roundtable Coalition, modeled a campaign there after Silverio's.

“The states of Kansas and Missouri have done nothing to educate the public that there is a law on the books,” said Howland.

She said the law doesn't require tracking, and she's heard only one report of a safe haven baby since the law passed in 2002.

In Iowa, publicizing the law has been controversial. Munns said some legislators fear that “if you promote this law, you are promoting irresponsible sexual activity.”

St. Luke's Sorensen believes that awareness could lead to better planning. “Awareness is always good,” said Sorensen, “and it's good to repeat every few years as younger girls grow up to be women and to childbearing age.”

Black, who has visited Truitt in prison but said more than a year has passed since they last spoke, believes education and awareness could have helped Truitt make a better decision.

“She was good all the time,” said Black. “She just snapped, but you only get one chance when it comes to things like this.”