A California baby boy is in critical condition in the hospital after he was discovered Thursday in a trash can at a gas station in Fullerton.
CBS Los Angeles reports police later arrested the child’s mother, Venissa Maldonado, 25, of Fullerton, and charged her with child abuse and attempted murder.
Police said a store clerk at the Chevron station found the baby in a bathroom trash can Thursday afternoon after hearing his cries, ABC 7 reports.
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The baby was taken to the hospital where he remains in critical but stable condition, according to reports.
Police Sgt. Ryan O’Neil said they located the mother after looking at surveillance footage from the gas station.
According to police, they do not know yet if the baby was born in the gas station or brought there from a different location, but they believe the infant was only about an hour old when he was found.
Infant abandonment and infanticide remain problems all across the world.
Like abortion, infanticide destroys the life of a unique and valuable child who is fully dependent on his/her parents to survive. The pro-life movement works to protect newborns from infanticide as well as abortion by supporting safe haven laws, adoption and resources to help pregnant and parenting families.
All 50 states have safe haven laws that allow mothers to safely surrender their newborns to authorities, often at a police station or hospital, without repercussions as long as the infant is unharmed. Typically, laws allow safe surrender within a certain time limit, such as up to 30 days after the baby’s birth. Indiana and several other states also have special baby boxes where women can safely surrender newborns.
According to Centers for Disease Control research, “Since 1999, when Texas became the first state to implement Safe Haven Laws, an estimated 4,100 infants have been safely surrendered nationwide.”
