Roe vs. Wade and Safe Havens

NCAP has not weighed in on the Supreme Court decision per se, but the decision includes some alarming assumptions that affect adoption.

“Safe Haven” laws, which aim to “save” babies at risk of being unsafely abandoned, are broadly misunderstood. A new adoptee-focused website, titled Stop Baby Boxes Now, provides information and commentaries that get at the heart of why this approach is doing more harm than good. While NCAP is not associated with this website, we agree with its thrust and appreciate its effort to educate the public and policymakers. NCAP President Adam Pertman has spoken out on this subject for almost two decades, since the Donaldson Adoption Institute (which he headed at the time) issued a report titled “Unintended Consequences: Safe Haven Laws are Causing Problems, Not Solving Them.” He also wrote a commentary, “Legalized Infant Abandonment: Alarm in Europe, Barely a Peep in the U.S.,” for the Huffington Post and is quoted in a recent Associated Press story on safe havens.