Republicans in GOP-led state shrug off uptick in newborns dying in dumpsters: writer

Texas has seen an increase in newborn babies placed in dumpsters after the state passed a restrictive anti-abortion law, a Salon writer noted Thursday. This adds to a startling rise in maternal mortality, while many states are trying to hide the information.

Amanda Marcotte pointed to data showing a dramatic increase in infant mortality after Texas banned abortion in the state. The Washington Post also documented that babies are dying after being abandoned.

"Babies, mostly dead, are being found in ditches and dumpsters throughout Texas, traumatizing the people who find them and the emergency workers who are called to help," wrote Marcotte.

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Texas didn't merely make abortion illegal — it also pulled funding for prenatal care and family planning services.

The Post report cited a Texas law enforcement official saying that it has become "a little bit of an epidemic" of infant abandonment.

Marcotte wondered why the pro-life movement wasn't up in arms about it. She said one would think they'd be "moving heaven and earth to make sure pregnant girls and women in desperate circumstances have safe alternatives to giving birth in secret and throwing the baby away."

"But that would only be true if anti-abortion activists were, in fact, 'pro-life.' Instead, the reaction of anti-choice leaders and Republican legislators so far has been a collective shrug, if they bother to acknowledge the problem at all," she said.

For a time, it was in vogue for Republicans to pass "safe haven laws," which allow women to relinquish babies to authorities without question. Texas passed one of the laws, too, with Republicans feigning concern over infant life. The program is so underfunded, Marcotte said that it is "barely advertised and subsequently barely used."

Alexandra Schrader-Dobris wrote last year in the Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality, "Despite the legislative promise that the safe haven laws will increase child safety and legal compliance, the efficacy is suspect as the laws do not appear to protect mothers or their babies."

The goal, Marcotte said, is not to reduce abortions or even to preserve life. "The goal is punishment" for women for becoming pregnant.

"More resources into the safe haven program would save lives, but would reduce the number of women that can be thrown in jail. Given a choice between living babies or imprisoned women, Republicans pick the latter," she said.

She also pointed out that it "is in line with the recent Texas decision to suppress investigations into maternal mortality after the abortion ban went into effect."

Read the full column here.