Safe Delivery

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Safe Delivery!

That’s what we’re calling a new three-part special report, launching this weekend, a project that my friend and cohost Myrna has been pouring herself into. We have a quick preview. Check it out.

[TRAILER] It’s been eight months since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe. v. Wade. Now, for pro-lifers trying to reach mothers in crisis, the battle lines are shifting…

HEATHER BURNER : If we can address the crisis that they’re in, we have found that the baby is often not the crisis. Their life is the crisis.

And the battle plans are sometimes contentious…

CHRIS HICKS : It’s just morally and ethically wrong that these babies, because they got put in a box, they’re becoming part of a marketing engine, they never agreed to be part of. :10

MONICA KELSEY: When we’re out educating and asking people for money, people are learning about the law. That’s the whole reason nobody knew about the safe haven law because nobody was talking about it before.

All 50 states have some sort of Safe Haven law. It allows for the safe surrender of newborn infants while preserving the anonymity of parents. These laws have been a steady, yet uncelebrated tool in the pro-life movement. As more babies are likely to be born in a post-Roe world, will the pro-lifers be ready to step in?

MONICA KELSEY: Everybody has a job in this movement. It’s just what job is yours? What job have you been tasked to do?

EICHER: I’m excited about this, Myrna! Congratulations on getting it finished. I know how much went into this. It’s been a year in the making.

BROWN: Thanks, yes! You know, all this grew out of a WORLD Opinions piece written by Ericka Andersen on these “Safe Haven” laws. It really resonated with me. Interestingly, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett cited “Safe Haven” during the arguments in the Dobbs case. She said, as a legal matter, it struck at one of the rationales for abortion.

But I’d never heard of these laws and never heard of baby boxes and I just found the whole thing interesting and surprising. And, you know what else surprised me? The controversy behind the baby boxes.

EICHER: Ooh, I love a cliffhanger! And I love that we won’t have to hang on this particular cliff much longer. The series starts tomorrow—Saturday—and continues the next Saturday and concludes the Saturday after. A three-part series, Safe Delivery, right here in your podcast feed for The World and Everything in It.

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