Will California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger further enable the disgraceful, irresponsible behavior of miscreant moms by extending their baby-throw-away plan to 30 days from its current three days? This is a HUGE dilemma facing the governor, now running for reelection. Mr. Schwarzenegger must decide whether to let California join 17 other states in granting this outrageous female right by signing AB 1873 into law (see article below).

These self-surrender, or safe-haven, laws allow “parents” (read: mothers) to shed their unwanted newborns — akin to returning DVDs and library books — at designated hospitals, police stations, and fire stations, no questions asked. At one time, 47 states allowed these miscreant moms to dispose of their babies within 72 hours of giving birth, and then change their minds 14 days later. Now, “progressive”states are extending that dropoff period to 30 days.

On both sides of the political spectrum, disingenuous lawmakers are heralding this bill as pro-life. What they really mean to say is this:

“We are forbidden from criticizing females. To get reelected, we must condone almost everything women do. If they want to get abortions, fine. If they want to discard their newborns at fire stations, great. If they want to fraudulently become pregnant and stick men 18 years of child support, even better. The last thing we can do is demand that women deal with the consequences of their behaviors. In politically correct America, that is verboten.”

US and state legislators have given women every conceivable way to opt out of parenthood (Roe v. Wade, safe-haven laws, and Plan-B pills); they have given men no such options. This violates the equal-protection clause of the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment. If a woman becomes pregnant, even in the case of failed birth control, all fetus/child decisions henceforth are hers. This is juris contemptus in action!

Today’s coddled girls grow up hearing: “Responsibility is old-fashioned. There is a law to shield you from everything and everyone, including yourself.” Second-class boys, however, quickly learn that they are expected to march in the “shovel brigade” behind the female parade.

Will Governor Schwarzenegger do the right thing by vetoing this ludicrous bill and exhorting women not to get pregnant if they don’t want to be mothers? Or, in an era where “the right thing” is an obsolete concept, will Mr. Schwarzenegger endorse the behavior of miscreant moms to get himself reelected? We shall see.

About the Author

Marc H. Rudov is an investment banker and business consultant residing in Silicon Valley, CA. He is the author of the book, The Man’s No-Nonsense Guide to Women: How to Succeed in Romance on Planet Earth^TM (ISBN 0974501719), and 23 articles.

Rudov’s book, articles, blog, and podcasts are available at http://www.TheNoNonsenseMan.com/.

Copyright ©2006 by Marc H. Rudov. All rights reserved.

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Bill extends time for parents to abandon babies

By Edwin Garcia

MediaNews Sacramento Bureau — 08.25.06

SACRAMENTO - The 2-week-old baby bundled in a blanket was discovered, dead, in the trash can outside a Jack in the Box restaurant in Newark last winter.

His mother or father could face murder charges if authorities ever find them — but if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approves legislation sent to his desk Thursday, parents in similar, troubled situations could avoid prosecution beginning next year if they abandon their children at hospitals and designated fire stations within 30 days of birth.

The legislation, AB 1873 by Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, was inspired by the Newark case. It seeks to extend the current self-surrender law, which gives parents 72 hours to turn in their newborn children to emergency health providers — no questions asked — without being charged with a crime.

At least 17 states have similar, 30-day laws.

A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said the governor had not taken a position on the bill.

As of last month, 153 newborns had been turned over since the current law took effect in 2001, according to state statistics. Through September 2004 — the most recent statistics available — 78 percent of the babies were surrendered alive. But other children continue to “fall through the cracks,” Torrico said, because parents either don’t know about the existing law, or need more than three days before deciding to give up their child.

“At its core, the bill is about saving babies’ lives,” Torrico told the Assembly, “and making sure that these young mothers understand that they have options besides leaving their babies in a garbage can, as happened just a mile from my house in January and just two blocks away from a fire station.”

He called his measure one of the most important bills of his political career, saying it has the potential to save many lives.

Torrico initially proposed a one-year surrender period, similar to laws in Missouri and North Dakota, and asked for $5 million to help promote the law throughout California, but legislative committees struck down the provisions.

The bill’s final version passed the Assembly on a 64-4 vote, though it was opposed by district attorneys who fret that abusive parents can harm their children and hide any signs of abuse for nearly a month.

Torrico and supporters of the measure countered that under the proposed law, and the current law, parents who drop off babies at a safe-surrender site such as a hospital emergency room and are suspected of physically hurting the child can be prosecuted for child abuse, and face up to six years in prison.

Some cities and counties opposed the measure out of concerns over costs of social workers and adoption consultants.

And the state Department of Social Services, which promotes the existing law through bilingual posters and brochures, suggested Torrico’s legislation was unnecessary.

“Unless it can be shown that babies older than 72 hours are being abandoned, and could be safer under the `Safely Surrendered Baby Law’ than under the voluntary relinquishment procedures, it is not necessary to change existing law,” the department stated in a letter opposing the measure.

Most abandoned babies, whether dead or alive, were newly born, the letter stated.

Assembly member Tim Leslie, R-Roseville, who supports the current law but argued against the measure, wondered if new parents who can’t handle changing diapers will abandon their children. “It’s an act that devalues humanity and devalues our children for up to 30 days,” Leslie said. “You just can’t give your child away.”

Assembly member Bonnie Garcia, R-El Centro, defended the measure, which she called a “pro-life” bill. “For those of you that are never going to have the experience of a baby moving and kicking inside of you, I don’t think you’ll ever understand this,” said Garcia, the mother of an 18-year-old.

Garcia, who has worked as a community leader, said she’s known of teenagers who got pregnant and faced difficult decisions: “The only choices they saw out of it was either to hide the pregnancy, or find a way to destroy that child.”

Proponents of the bill also argued that women who give birth by caesarean section are almost always in the hospital at least three days after the child is born.

At a news conference before the measure was passed, Torrico, a father of two small children, expressed disappointment that his latest version of the bill was stripped of $5 million to promote the law in a multilingual public-awareness campaign.

Many mothers, he said, still don’t even know about the existing, three-day surrender law.

Just last week, an 18-year-old Livermore woman — who told police she was raped by a relative, and hid her pregnancy from her family — gave birth in a bathtub and allegedly suffocated the baby with a plastic bag.

Later that day, police found the tiny body in a trash can at the side of her house. The mother, Carmen Gil, is being charged with murder.

Contact Edwin Garcia at egarcia@mercurynews.com or (916) 441-4651.

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