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SALT LAKE CITY — A bill changing Utah’s Newborn Safe Haven law to give parents up to 30 days to relinquish a baby at any Utah hospital with no questions asked instead of the 72-hour limit now in the law is headed Tuesday to Gov. Gary Herbert for his action.
HB97, sponsored by Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, passed the Senate 26-0 Tuesday. Arent, who introduced the state’s original safe haven law nearly 20 years ago, has said that some new mothers need more time to decide whether to keep their child.
An estimated 40 babies have been saved as a result of the law. Utah was one of the first states to enact what’s also known as “baby Moses laws,” in 2001. Every state now has some version of a safe haven law.
