Heineman urges changes in safe haven law
Gov. Dave Heineman says recent decisions by parents to drop a teen and an 11-year-old off at hospitals should prompt changes in Nebraska’s new safe haven law.
Heineman told Lincoln’s KLIN radio on Thursday morning that Saturday’s drop-offs of an 11-year-old boy at an Omaha hospital and a 15-year-old boy at a Lincoln hospital are the type of acts lawmakers said wouldn’t happen when they passed the bill.
Heineman signed the bill into law this year. It went into effect in July.
The law allows anyone to leave a child at any state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution. The law was intended to protect infants. In a compromise, the measure was expanded to include the word “child” but didn’t define the word.
Heineman told Lincoln’s KLIN radio on Thursday morning that Saturday’s drop-offs of an 11-year-old boy at an Omaha hospital and a 15-year-old boy at a Lincoln hospital are the type of acts lawmakers said wouldn’t happen when they passed the bill.
Heineman signed the bill into law this year. It went into effect in July.
The law allows anyone to leave a child at any state-licensed hospital without fear of prosecution. The law was intended to protect infants. In a compromise, the measure was expanded to include the word “child” but didn’t define the word.
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