Safe Haven Laws in a Post-Roe World: Attitudes and Knowledge Among University Students

Background and Purpose: Safe haven laws (SHL) are state-level policies that were passed in the early 2000s in response to an increase in infant abandonment and death. SHLs exist in every state in the nation and make provisions for parents, if needed, to relinquish a baby at a designated location, such as a hospital, fire, or police station. SHLs free parents from charges of criminal neglect of an infant. This is especially relevant since the overturn of Roe v. There is speculation that the public has low levels of knowledge about SHLs, but there is very little research about this. A university campus is a natural place to begin this research, because most parents who use SHLs are in early adulthood. The research questions: (1) What knowledge do university students have of SHLs? (2) What attitudes do they have about SHLs? (3) What do they think about whether and where the public should be educated about SHLs? And (4) How are demographics characteristics related to knowledge and attitudes with SHLs?

Methods: This IRB-approved study of 166 students was conducted at a large public HSI-university in the New York City-metro area. An online survey was distributed through the “all student” campus email system and through the research team’s networks across campus. This was a racially diverse sample with 9.5% Asian, 9.5% Black, 24.1% Latinx, and 48.1% White; 76.9% were undergraduate students; and 72.5% identified as women. Analyses were conducted using descriptive statistics and OLS regression.

Results: Results show that 50.7% of the sample knew about SHLs before they took this study; students who identified as a woman were more likely to have this knowledge (p=.02). Students overwhelmingly had a positive attitude toward SHLs (96.2%), with younger students feeling the most positive (p=.028). About half (54.0%) reported they would be willing to use a SHL if needed. They predicted more support from friends (55.6%) than from family (26.5%). The vast majority (90.1%) believed that the public should be made more aware of SHLs and they should be taught about in high school (89.4%). These responses did not vary by demographic characteristics.

Conclusions and Implications: This study is the first to examine what university students know and how they feel about SHLs. Although only half knew about SHLs prior to this study, the entire sample had a positive impression of them. About half indicated they might be willing to use a SHL if they ever needed to, with higher levels of support from friends than from family. This research is important because it shows that while there aren’t high levels of knowledge about SHLs, there is still strong support for them. This speaks to the importance of educating young people, and the public, about SHLs as women’s options for unwanted pregnancy continue to decline. It also has implications for social work and other helping professionals who work with high risk populations who may find that they are unable to care for a new infant.