Bastard Nation
Action Alert!February 11, 2003 IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED
VIRGINIA HB 2447 - INFANT ABANDONMENT - VOTE NOHB 2447 passed out of the House by a vote of 92 YES – 6 NO. It will be heard by the Senate Courts of Justice Committee on Wednesday, January 12th, 2003, at 2:00 p.m. Please urge legislators to VOTE NO to HB 2447, "Affirmative defense to prosecution for abuse and neglect; infant-receiving facilities; emergency custody of abandoned children." HB 2447 provides that when any person voluntarily delivers a child no older than 7 days to an approved facility, the person will have an affirmative defense to prosecution for abuse or neglect, if the abuse or neglect prosecution is based solely upon the delivery of the child to an approved facility. Approved facilities include hospitals, rescue squads and police departments. Personnel who accept these children are immune from liability absent gross negligence or willful misconduct.
HB 2447 would deter adoption through traditional legal channels and replace standard practice with what some Safe Haven advocates call "non-bureaucratic placement." Infant abandonment bills create a legislative bandaid solution instead of addressing the root socio-economic causes of baby abandonment and neonatacide: poverty, substance abuse, physical abuse, shame and mental illness. HB 2447 rejects long-standing best child welfare practice. By allowing the birth mother to remain anonymous, the state will be legally striping the infant of all genetic, medical and social history. Read the full text at http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?ses=031&typ=bil&val=hb2447
Contact InformationSenate Courts of Justice Committee
Senator Kenneth W. Stolle chair
General Assembly Building, Room 331
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7508
email: district08@sov.state.va.us
Senator Richard L. Saslaw
General Assembly Building, Room 613
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7535
email: district35@sov.state.va.us
Senator Malfourd W. Trumbo
General Assembly Building, Room 332
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7522
email: district22@sov.state.va.us
Senator Henry L. Marsh III
General Assembly Building, Room 329
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7516
email: district16@sov.state.va.us
Senator Frederick M. Quayle
General Assembly Building, Room 310
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7513
email: district13@sov.state.va.us
Senator Thomas K. Norment, Jr.
General Assembly Building, Room 330
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7503
email: district03@sov.state.va.us
Senator Janet D. Howell
General Assembly Building, Room 327
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7532
email: district32@sov.state.va.us
Senator L. Louise Lucas
General Assembly Building, Room 328
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7518
email: district18@sov.state.va.us
Senator John S. Edwards
General Assembly Building, Room 309
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7521
email: district21@sov.state.va.us
Senator W. Roscoe Reynolds
General Assembly Building, Room 319
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7520
email: district20@sov.state.va.us
Senator William C. Mims
General Assembly Building, Room 320
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7533
email: district33@sov.state.va.us
Senator Linda T. Puller
General Assembly Building, Room 314
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7536
email: district36@sov.state.va.us
Senator Nick Rerras
General Assembly Building, Room 313
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7506
email: district06@sov.state.va.us
Senator Harry B. Blevins
General Assembly Building, Room 306
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7514
email: district14@sov.state.va.us
Senator Ken T. Cuccinelli, II
General Assembly Building, Room 0
Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(804) 698-7437
district37@sov.state.va.us
QUICK EMAIL LIST
district08@sov.state.va.us
district35@sov.state.va.us
district22@sov.state.va.us
district16@sov.state.va.us
district13@sov.state.va.us
district03@sov.state.va.us
district32@sov.state.va.us
district18@sov.state.va.us
district21@sov.state.va.us
district20@sov.state.va.us
district33@sov.state.va.us
district36@sov.state.va.us
district06@sov.state.va.us
district14@sov.state.va.us
district37@sov.state.va.us
Call, fax, write today! Your letters and phone calls do make a difference.
Legislative Committee
Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization
http://www.bastards.org/
Copyright 2002 Bastard Nation - Permission is granted to distribute
verbatim copies of this document, provided that this notice remain intact. |