America’s Dropbox Babies

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2022

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

Until Roe vs Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in June, sweeping away Americans’ constitutional right to abortion, no one gave much thought to Safe Haven laws. These allow a mother to give up her new-born baby for adoption, at a designated site, anonymously and without risk of prosecution. Safe Haven legislation first appeared in the US in 1999 in Texas, in response to a rise in the number of abandoned babies. Now it exists in every state. These laws were never intended as an alternative to abortion. But as the options for unhappily pregnant women diminish, some are anticipating an increase in the number of babies left by desperate mothers in hospitals and specially designed Baby Boxes at local fire stations. Ahead of the US midterm elections, and with the abortion debate still polarising the nation, Assignment reports from Arizona on America’s ‘dropbox babies’. Reporter: Linda Pressly Producer: Tim Mansel

Transcript

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0:00.0	Earlier this year we visited Texas to report on the heartbeat act, a law that prohibited
0:07.9	abortion from around six weeks of pregnancy. Later in June the US Supreme Court swept away
0:15.0	the constitutional right to abortion for all Americans. But in the course of intense legal argument,
0:21.7	one alternative to termination was discussed that we knew nothing about. That's this week's
0:27.3	assignment on the BBC World Service. I'm Linda Pressley.
0:36.5	It's November 2021. Arizona, where the railway wens its way across one of this southern state's
0:44.4	vast plains. A young woman who spent nine months in complete denial pulls over in her car.
0:51.3	We'll call her Michelle. I was actually driving around when I went into labor with her. I was out
0:58.5	in the middle of nowhere. So I had her in my car by myself and it was dark outside. It was like
1:06.8	pitch black because it's wintertime. What time was this? She was born at 8.45 p.m. in the evening.
1:12.6	In the evening. And so delivering her in the car. What was that like? At the time it was scary and
1:18.9	I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I remember just praying and hoping that I was going to be okay
1:25.6	and that she was going to be okay. I was calling out for my mom. I wanted my mom. But when you
1:30.2	go birth your oldest daughter was in the back of the car. Mm-hmm. Yeah. She slept through the whole
1:34.8	thing. Believe it or not, she slept through the whole thing. Yeah. Michelle had lived this
1:42.4	her second pregnancy in a state of terrified anxiety. I didn't tell anybody. I kept it to myself.
1:49.6	What you didn't tell anyone for the whole time you were pregnant? No. I didn't tell anybody at all
1:54.2	because my oldest daughter's dad and I were in a situation where we were not getting along.
2:00.5	Things were really, really bad between us. And I just wasn't sure what to do. I was scared,
2:04.8	scared more than anything, in fear of my life and fear of her life because of the oldest dad.
2:10.1	In Michelle's circumstances, frightened, separated from the father of her older child and then no longer
2:17.3	dating her new baby's father, she could see only one option. I had a really sick blanket that I
	...

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