(Radio Iowa) – Iowa now has a second Safe Haven baby box where an unwanted newborn baby can be turned over. Safe Haven founder Monica Kelsey says the box adds something to Iowa’s existing law. “The Safe Haven baby box program allows anonymity where the Safe Haven law that was passed 25 years ago allows for confidentiality, but not anonymity,” she says. “And so having a box that allows anonymity for a parent that doesn’t want to walk in and hand their child to a person, but still wants to surrender their child is important to some of these women.”

The new Safe Haven baby box is at MercyOne Medical Center in Des Moines and it follows the first that was installed at the Fort Dodge Fire Department in 2023. Kelsey started Safe Haven baby boxes out of her own beginnings.  “I was abandoned as an infant, and so when I started this organization, I knew that I wanted to start it as a nonprofit, because I never wanted to profit off of the backs of babies that were being saved or babies that were being dumped,” Kelsey says. “And so I started as a nonprofit. We do everything by donations and fundraising. We don’t take any government funding from the state or the federal government.” Kelsey says the national abortion fight has brought some attention to her organization.

“It has brought more awareness to the safe haven law. Some good, some bad, of course, because of the controversy between the abortion debate and parenting or placing for adoption. But you know, the states that have the highest number of abandonments are actually the states where abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy. You know, New Mexico is one, California is one, Illinois is one,” she says. Kelsey says Safe Haven boxes and Safe Haven laws aren’t really an issue.

“It really doesn’t have a lot to do with abortion, you know and abandonment together. We’re dealing with a different type of crisis from these women,” Kelsey says. “These babies are born, you know, these babies are going to go in an unsafe place or in one of our boxes. And so I think we all can agree that a baby in a box is a better option than a baby in a dumpster.” Kelsey says the Safe Haven box in Fort Dodge hasn’t been used yet.

The Safe Haven Baby Box. (photo from SHBB)

“But we have helped women do hand-off’s in your state, and that’s just as important as the boxes. You know, these are the women that will walk into the fire stations and hand their child to a person, and we have helped multiple women do that,” she says. She says they will likely get more boxes installed here.

“Well, we are working with multiple locations in Iowa right now. You know, we’re working in almost every state trying to get women these options, given this option that’s available to them, and and so I would say, probably, within probably six months, you’ll probably see a second and a third box coming into Iowa,” according to Kelsey.

You can find out more about Safe Haven boxes, or make a donation to the organization at shbb.org.