Fathers & Families: New Bill Says a Baby Is Better off in Prison than with Dad!
Background: For fathers and the children who love them and need them, Massachusetts sometimes looks a lot like feminist hell. In this series, Ned Holstein, Executive Director of Fathers & Families, points to four um…problematic…Massachusetts family law bills.
The first three bills Holstein cites are Massachusetts HB 113, HB 1396 and HB 92–to learn more, see my blog posts Amazing New Bill Says Dads Can Be Arrested for Leaving the State, Under New Bill, Restraining Orders Can Be Extended Without Notice and Don’t Want Your Baby? Call Massachusetts’ New ‘Abandon Your Baby Pickup Service’. On a related note, also see my blog post Massachusetts Joins CA., CT. in Passing Legislation to Protect Hamsters Caught in Abusive Relationships.
The fourth bill is explained below.
From Holstein:
“Babies in Prison” Massachusetts HB 104
When an incarcerated woman delivers a baby, HB 104 provides that “…every effort shall be made to keep infants of twelve months or less born to incarcerated mothers with their mothers.” (emphasis added)
(The word “shall” is important because in law, it means that the thing must be done, without room for discretion.)
But suppose there is a perfectly good Dad? This bill would have the baby stay with Mom in prison even if there is a perfectly good Dad on the outside !
Or suppose Mom is in prison for domestic violence or other violent acts, or child abuse, or is psychologically unbalanced, or is on drugs? This bill makes no exceptions!
And what happens after twelve months? Is baby suddenly expelled from prison into the care of someone he/she has hardly ever seen before?
The hazards of prison are very real. Violence. Drug use. Infectious diseases. Sensory deprivation. Lack of pediatric medical care.
There are strong medical benefits to nursing, but these benefits max out after a month or so. At that point, even with a great mother, baby needs to get out of the big house if there is a competent caretaker outside, such as Dad. Maybe even before.
In summary, this bill is dreadful for babies. And it demonstrates how ready our society is to simply throw away what Dads have to offer children.
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December 29th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
I guess the women in La Crosse County, Wisconsin will not have to worry about this. They will not be in jail.
As to the benefit of nursing, there is a devise called a breast pump. It will allow a new born to be fed mommies milk without having to be there.
December 29th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
amazing how men will actually live in mass just to earn a wage or make a woman happy. i simply have know respect for any man who would live there, to include m romney.
December 30th, 2007 at 6:57 am
This is clearly very bad news and worse off, the public is probably totally unaware and this bill will just slide through on the coat tails of extremists which already control the way most items become law.
I hope this gets publicized in the mainstream.