Since 2001, Illinois’ “safe haven” law has given parents the option to give up their children at birth anonymously at a hospital, fire department or police station. A 20-year-old college student in Illinois apparently wasn’t aware of the law and may pay the price for allegedly taking her newborn son’s life.
On April 11, Lindsay Johnson, a sophomore at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was charged with first degree murder, child endangerment and concealing homicidal death for killing her newborn in the bathroom of her dormitory in March, potentially facing up to 75 years in jail if convicted.
Dawn Geras, president of the Illinois Save Abandoned Babies Foundation (SABF), was at a loss for words about the incident during a press conference at the Illinois Statehouse today. Her group works to prevent the illegal abandonment of newborns by raising awareness of the safe, legal options available under the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act.
“I get angry at myself, at you (the media), and the school because that young girl didn’t know that there was a state legal option,” Geras said. “Why didn’t she find our site when she was searching the internet?”
News reports indicated that Johnson testified that she was unaware of her pregnancy prior to going into labor, but the police reviewed her cell phone’s search history, findings that she had searched for information about pregnancy, miscarriages and home abortions months prior to the incident.
According to the SABF website, 106 children to date have been properly relinquished to emergency personnel under the law. Geras was accompanied at the Illinois Statehouse by two families which had adopted children who were legally relinquished under the law.
Christie Haacks, adoptive mother of the 100th safe haven baby, said her adopted daughter was relinquished in a college town, similar to where Johnson was located.
“Some people don’t have the option to make an adoption plan, especially in cases when the pregnancy is unknown,” Haacks said. “My daughter was left at a fire department only a year and a half ago, and I am very grateful her birthmother decided to do the right thing.”
Eight-year-old Aidan Jane Millar-Nicholson of Urbana-Champaign said that she didn’t believe that she would be alive today if her birth mother had not made the choice to leave her at a safe location.
Geras believes that colleges should play a role in educating young people about the legal options a birth parent has when they are not wanting to be a parent.
“In my heart I believe that the young girl did not know about the law. Maybe colleges should do an awareness campaign about it. This is a subject that needs to be talked about,” Geras said. “Pay it forward, talk about it, and tell a friend, you may save a life.”
Contact Brittany Hilderbrand at intern@illinoistimes.com
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2016.
