Indiana Woman Pushing for Climate-Controlled Drop Off Boxes for Unwanted Babies

A Northern Indiana woman is looking to give the parents of unwanted infants an alternative to abandonment by installing climate-controlled baby boxes at designated "Safe Haven" locations around the state.

Monica Kelsey is a volunteer firefighter in the small town of Woodburn, just northeast of Fort Wayne, who became an anti-abortion advocate after learning she may have never existed on this planet when she discovered she was conceived through rape.

Monica told The Washington Post she was 37 when her adopted parents revealed to her that at the age of 17, her birth mother was attacked, raped, and left for dead in 1972. After discovering she was with child as the result of the traumatizing experience, she decided to abort the pregnancy, which was still illegal at the time.

Then, moments before she was to have the procedure, she changed her mind and decided to move forward with the pregnancy, keeping the story of her horrific experience a secret. She abandoned Monica at the hospital two hours after giving birth to her.

Realizing her story could provide hope and inspiration to other mothers who wrestle with the decision on what to do with an unwanted pregnancy, Monica founded Safe Haven Baby Boxes. The padded, climate-controlled boxes offer unwilling parents of infants an alternative to abortion, or abandoning their child their child in an unsafe place.

As the video above from The Washington Posts notes, the boxes are placed at designated "Safe Havens" (usually local police and fire stations), and feature a built in scale that alerts 911 less than one minute after an infant has been placed inside. According to Monica, any baby placed inside the box will be picked up by emergency responders within five minutes.

Despite their good intention, similar concepts in Europe have generated their fair share of controversy. In 2012, United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child sociologist, Maria Herczog told the Christian Science Monitor she felt the boxes did not serve "the best interest of the child," and encouraged women "to give birth in unsafe and life-threatening conditions."

Indiana Department of Health officials also expressed concern over liability, however Monica feels the boxes are not only safe, but allow mothers to remain anonymous when they make the decision to give up their child.

Personally, I like this idea. Regardless of the circumstances that brought the child into the world, the choice to exist wasn't theirs. To put it bluntly, it's not their fault two people could keep their pants on.

At this time, there are only two boxes in the entire state of Indiana. The first of which is embedded in the wall of a Woodburn fire station, the other resides 134 miles away in Michigan City, Indiana.

For more info on Monica's story, as well as Safe Haven Baby Boxes, visit Monica's official website.

Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.

[Source: The Washington Post]