A nonbinding resolution (H. Res. 465) urging federal, state, and local officials to gather statistics on infants abandoned in public places was approved, by voice vote, by the House on April 11. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-CT), the sponsor of the resolution, said, “We know very little about these babies that are so tragically…disposed of in dumpsters, trash bins, alleys, or warehouses.”
Rep. Johnson highlighted state-level efforts to allow troubled parents to “bring children someplace where they will be safe, cared for and put up for adoption.” She added: “It is extremely important that we develop a system that responds to the real-life needs of young women who have unwanted pregnancies and that the cost of inappropriate births not be borne by the child.”
According to the resolution, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) conducted “an informal survey of major newspapers and found that, in 1998, 105 babies were found abandoned in public places in the United States, of which 33 were found dead, and that in 1991, 65 babies were abandoned, of which 8 were found dead.” The DHHS also has reported that 31,000 babies were delivered and abandoned in hospitals in 1998.
