MASSACHUSETTS
http://www.harvardhillside.com/Stories/0,1413,108~5342~2072984,00.html
Town meeting voters to consider support of safe-havens legislation
By C. David Gordon

AYER -- One of several general articles to find placement on this year's spring
Annual Town Meeting warrant seeks to petition the state Legislature to enact a
law for the safe placement of newborns and infants.

The movement in several communities to push for such legislation stems from a
sense that "unless parents of newborns or infants are not protected from
prosecution for their abandonment of a newborn or infant, then the incidents of
newborns discarded into trash receptacles or abandoned in public places will
continue to occur," the lengthy warrant article states.

Town Administrator Anita Scheipers told selectmen Tuesday evening as they
reviewed a first draft of the warrant that this wording is what several other
communities are using to vote on the petition this spring.

In Ayer, a newborn or infant could be brought to the police station or fire
station or to Nashoba Valley Medical Center and left with no criminal charges
lodged against the mother. The baby could then be properly cared for and
arrangements made for permanent care.