{"id":271795,"date":"2022-07-11T06:41:40","date_gmt":"2022-07-11T11:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=271795"},"modified":"2022-07-08T15:10:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T20:10:15","slug":"premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/","title":{"rendered":"Premature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A premature baby abandoned by a 15-year-old mother last week in a Houston apartment complex parking lot has tragically died.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to <\/span>news reports<\/span><\/a>, the teen told her parents that she went outside to retrieve her earbuds from her mom\u2019s car when she saw a baby in a blanket near the fence. She told her mother, a nurse, who then called police and attempted to revive the baby. Sadly, her efforts were futile, and the baby died shortly after paramedics arrived. Investigators believe the baby was about 20 weeks gestation.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the events unfolded, the teen called her father and admitted that the baby was hers. She said she \u201cpanicked\u201d and put the baby outside. Police described the baby as \u201cvery, very small.\u201d Authorities will likely not press charges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sadly, there are many stories like this one. Last year, a newborn baby girl was <\/span>found dead<\/span><\/a> in a backpack in the bushes near a hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. In another <\/span>horrific incident<\/span>, a newborn baby girl was found in a wooded area along a road in Georgia. She was alive but had been put inside a plastic grocery bag. Thankfully, she survived.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These stories are a grave reminder of the importance of safe haven laws. Each state has its own unique safe haven laws, but essentially all these laws allow parents to anonymously surrender their babies at designated facilities with no legal consequences. The goal is to offer parents in difficult circumstances safe alternatives that prevent infant abandonment. According to the National Safe Haven Alliance, more than 4,630 babies have been <\/span>saved<\/span><\/a> so far nationwide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, these laws are not a perfect solution, since many parents in desperate situations don\u2019t know they exist. In Texas, where the 15-year-old mother\u2019s child just died, there has been a safe haven law in place since 1999. In fact, Texas was the <\/span>first state<\/span><\/a> to enact a safe haven law and now all 50 states have them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Baby safe haven law critics put ideology over facts<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Before safe haven laws were enacted, police medic Tim Jaccard <\/span>recalled<\/span><\/a> numerous harrowing stories of trying to save babies abandoned in horrific ways \u2014 including babies who were drowned in toilet bowls or found in plastic bags, dumpsters, and recycle bins. These experiences led him to lobby for safe haven laws. He <\/span>told<\/span><\/a> People Magazine that he \u201ccried over many babies\u201d in the 1990s before these laws existed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stories demonstrating the effectiveness of safe haven laws abound. In 2019, a couple in Illinois was able to hand their baby girl <\/span>right into the arms<\/span><\/a> of a firefighter before leaving, giving their child a chance at life and knowing she was safe. Just the <\/span>year before<\/span><\/a>, a mother in Florida went to a fire station with her hours-old baby wrapped in a towel and was able to surrender her baby anonymously, with no questions asked. The baby girl was later placed with an adoptive family.<\/span><\/p>\n

The challenge now is to spread awareness of the existence of safe haven laws, so that parents in crisis situations without resources know there is a safe option for their child. Abandonment of a child is a criminal offense, but surrendering a child at a safe haven location anonymously is not.<\/span><\/p>\n

Visit the <\/span>National Safe Haven Alliance<\/span><\/a> for baby safe haven locations in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A premature baby abandoned by a 15-year-old mother last week in a Houston apartment complex parking lot has tragically died. According to news reports, the teen told her parents that she went outside to retrieve her earbuds from her mom\u2019s car when she saw a baby in a blanket near the fence. She told her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":809,"featured_media":245445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473],"tags":[5149,3329,1216,8699,6447],"yoast_head":"\nPremature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A 20-week infant was abandoned in Houston recently, and has died. But the teen mother had options - safe havens will accept newborns, no questions asked.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Premature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A 20-week infant was abandoned in Houston recently, and has died. But the teen mother had options - safe havens will accept newborns, no questions asked.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-11T11:41:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-08T20:10:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-120538758-police-tape.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amanda Vicinanzo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amanda Vicinanzo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amanda Vicinanzo\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eebffe0c2940568619d29cdb3e4c08db\"},\"headline\":\"Premature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-11T11:41:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-08T20:10:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/\"},\"wordCount\":574,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"20 weeks\",\"abandoned baby\",\"houston\",\"Safe Haven\",\"teen\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/\",\"name\":\"Premature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-11T11:41:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-08T20:10:15+00:00\",\"description\":\"A 20-week infant was abandoned in Houston recently, and has died. But the teen mother had options - safe havens will accept newborns, no questions asked.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Premature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eebffe0c2940568619d29cdb3e4c08db\",\"name\":\"Amanda Vicinanzo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/287abbaa56cf8c0e49355295f5ce392d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/287abbaa56cf8c0e49355295f5ce392d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Amanda Vicinanzo\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/amanda-vicinanzo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Premature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies","description":"A 20-week infant was abandoned in Houston recently, and has died. But the teen mother had options - safe havens will accept newborns, no questions asked.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Premature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies","og_description":"A 20-week infant was abandoned in Houston recently, and has died. But the teen mother had options - safe havens will accept newborns, no questions asked.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2022-07-11T11:41:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-08T20:10:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/GettyImages-120538758-police-tape.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amanda Vicinanzo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amanda Vicinanzo","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/"},"author":{"name":"Amanda Vicinanzo","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eebffe0c2940568619d29cdb3e4c08db"},"headline":"Premature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies","datePublished":"2022-07-11T11:41:40+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-08T20:10:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/"},"wordCount":574,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["20 weeks","abandoned baby","houston","Safe Haven","teen"],"articleSection":["Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/","name":"Premature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-07-11T11:41:40+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-08T20:10:15+00:00","description":"A 20-week infant was abandoned in Houston recently, and has died. But the teen mother had options - safe havens will accept newborns, no questions asked.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/premature-baby-abandoned-houston-dies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Premature baby abandoned by teen mother in Houston parking lot dies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eebffe0c2940568619d29cdb3e4c08db","name":"Amanda Vicinanzo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/287abbaa56cf8c0e49355295f5ce392d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/287abbaa56cf8c0e49355295f5ce392d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Amanda Vicinanzo"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/amanda-vicinanzo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/809"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271795"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":271995,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271795\/revisions\/271995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}