Day Old Infant Found in Shoebox

According to the New York Post, a newborn girl was found alive in a shoe box which was left at the entrance to an apartment building in Long Island. A breathing hold had been cut in the box for the baby and the umbilical cord had been tied with dental floss. Local authorities say that the baby girl, weighing 5-pounds, 7-ounces, is doing well. At the bottom of the article, the disclaimer states that police are asking for information regarding the parents of the child. My question is simple: Why? Are they going to go after the biological parents for abandonment? neglect? endangerment? All I can say is that I hope they never find out who her parents were.

The key word here is were. This baby was not murdered. Someone took the time to cut an air hold in the box, to tie off the umbilical cord so that she did not bleed to death, and placed her in a place where they had good reason to believe someone would find her and take her to safety. The mother obviously does not want to mother the child. But she made the CHOICE to still give her life. I do not blame the mother for doing what she did. I wouldn’t have made the same choice, but as a choice-preaching society, we must acknowledge that this mother made the right one. If she truly did not feel that she could care for her child, she should not be caring for her.  This mother decided that she did not want to be a mother, so she placed her child in a public doorway where someone could get her to safety and she could eventually find new parents.

So many argue that abortion is a viable alternative for mothers like this one simply because…and I quote…”giving the baby up for adoption and the baby finding out later that he wasn’t wanted, that would be hard.” Well yeah, but life is hard. It’s hard to choose which school to attend, it’s hard to find a job, it’s hard to wake up in the morning when the alarm goes off. This mother made a hard choice. She may have done so in a fashion other than what we deem to be “ideal.” But had the same mother gone to Kansas and had her 5lb 7oz daughter aborted by the likes of the late Dr. Tiller for the purpose of avoiding mental or emotional distress, many people wouldn’t even bat an eye. The police certainly wouldn’t be asking for people to call a TIPS line to help identify her. They would respect her “choice.”

I think it’s high time that we stop criminalizing people for having a conscience. Maybe some of us would have preferred that this mother take her child to a hospital or fire station “or other safe place” but I would argue that this is what her intention was. Even with the so-called “safe-haven” laws, mothers who choose this option are viewed as irresponsible and cruel. So a mother decides to drop her unwanted newborn off at a fire station and do “the right thing” only to see the story on the news the next day and hear stories and commits about how much of a low-life she is. She may not be prosecuted under the law, but she is prosecuted by the public eye. As the argument goes for the pro-choice community, no one just decides to abort their child in the blink of an eye. They supposedly do a lot of soul-searching before coming to that decision. I think that the argument actually holds water when you are speaking of a mother who does not want her child, but chooses to give him life anyway. After she has made such a hard decision, why would we try to give her a sort of scarlet letter and brand her a bad person? Why do we not applaud her for not killing the child or leaving him in a bathroom toilet somewhere?  The Bible tells of the story of baby Moses.  His mother, in a last-ditch attempt to save his life, placed him in a basket to float down the river, in hopes that he would be rescued.  There was always the possibility that he would drown, but that was not the intention of his mother.  She made a heart-wrenching decision so that he would have a small chance at life.  How do we know that this mother was not watching the baby from afar, as Moses’ mother instructed his sister to do? 

Baby Moses floating in the river.

There are comments at the bottom of the story on the New York post calling this woman a monster and stating that she should be left in a pine box. Why do we have our priorities so backward in our society? Why is it that when a mother chooses life, yet makes the difficult decision not to raise her child, we demonize her. Why is it that if she chooses death for the child that we praise her “tough choice?” I want to issue a public THANK YOU to the birth mother of this baby girl. You may not be ready or willing to care for your daughter, but you did give her life, and for that you will always be a hero. You did not take the path that so many take when their children are unwanted. I am not surprised that you don’t want to make your identity known with the way society treats women who give up their children. I do not wish for anyone to raise a child they are not capable of raising, or even that they do not want to raise, but none of us has the God-given right to snuff out that life. You did the right thing. Your baby is safe and has a chance at a peaceful, healthy life.