Senate Bill 1279, carried by Sen. Donna Campbell and Sen. Jane Nelson, along with House Bill 3126, carried by Rep. Geannie Morrison, are new pieces of legislation that seek to add freestanding emergency centers (FECs) to the list of “designated emergency infant care providers.” The bills require that FECs examine and provide emergency medical services to any abandoned child taken into its possession.

Rep. Morrison’s original bill was established to address an alarming increase in newborns being abandoned in perilous places. The mission of the project is to publicize a confidential, and safe alternative to newborn abandonment.

TAFEC members have received multiple babies at their facilities from mothers who thought FECs were a safe place to deliver them. Proposed bills SB 1279 and HB 3126 add FECs to the existing Baby Moses statute so mothers have more options in finding appropriate care for their child.