"baby boxes"

Baby box in the Czech Republic

In the U.S. descent into a stratified feudalism, Indiana may help accelerate the trend by passing a bill that would place "baby boxes" at hospitals, churches, police stations, et al. Distressed or impoverished parents could drop off unwanted newborns without fear of penalty in this latest version of medieval caring.

Indiana could be the first state to allow use of the baby boxes on a broad scale to prevent dangerous abandonments of infants if the bill, which unanimously passed the House this week, clears the state Senate. Republican state Rep. Casey Cox and child-safety advocates say they're unaware of any other states that have considered the issue at the level Indiana has.

Cox says his bill is a natural progression of the "safe haven" laws that exist in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Those give parents a legal way to surrender newborns at hospitals, police stations and other facilities without fear of prosecution so long as the child hasn't been harmed.

And so the cycle is nourished ... from baby box to orphanage to English, Irish and Australian investigations of the 'slavery' abandoned children have been subjected to by church and state. Opponents of the baby-box approach point out that such boxes sidestep concrete actions that might ameliorate conditions in which such babies are fostered ... eg. poverty, lack of education, etc.

Bit by bit, the civilized society that might lay claim to a civilized society devalues the lives of those who are not as well-heeled as those toasting their civilization.

PS. A spike in suicides among middle-aged men after 2007 has been linked to the economic downturn that is politely referred to as the "Great Recession."

The number of Americans between the ages of 40 and 64 who take their own lives has risen by 40 percent since 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And suicide rates for the age group have picked up markedly since the onset of the Great Recession, according to the report.