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Nebraska discusses safe-haven law

Other News Materials 15 November 2008 06:41 (UTC +04:00)

Lawmakers in the US state of Nebraska have introduced bills calling for limits on the age of children who can be abandoned under a safe-haven law, BBC reported.

One bill proposed an age limit of 72 hours, while another would let parents leave children as old as 15. They will be voted on at a session next Friday.

Under the law passed by the state in July, a person will not be prosecuted for leaving a child at a hospital.

Since then, 34 have been abandoned, including 20 teenagers as old as 17.

On Thursday night, a five-year-old boy was left at a hospital in Omaha. Earlier, a woman dropped off two teenagers at another hospital in the city.

Nebraska was one of the last states to introduce a safe-haven law. All others limit abandonment to infants. Only the District of Columbia is without such a law.

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