WHY BABY BOXES ARE SUDDENLY EVERYWHERE

Devices to help parents anonymously surrender an infant are spreading across the U.S.—stirring emotions, and debate

- By Alana Semuels/ Daphne, Ala.

THE DOZENS OF PEOPLE GATHERED AT THE FIRE STATION ONE JUNE afternoon quieted when the battalion chief dressed in a heavy blue uniform approached the podium.

He was there to bless the fire station’s new baby box, a temperature-controlled bassinet installed in the side of the building where parents could safely and anonymously surrender infants that they felt they could not care for. He led the crowd, sweltering in the 90°F heat, in praying over the box: the 18th in Alabama and 344th in the nation.

“Heavenly Father, we come before you to dedicate this safe haven,” he began. “We know that each and every child placed not only in this cradle, but similar cradles across the country, are children you formed in the womb, and we know that you have a special plan for all of them.”

Afterward, people gathered to take pictures in front of the box, where signs note that a silent alert will activate if a baby is placed in it. A few people discussed the baby boxes that would soon open in the nearby towns of Spanish Fort and Foley, which, like this one, were funded by private donations.

In the wake of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision that gave states the ability to essentially outlaw abortion, communities and nonprofits are installing these baby boxes, which cost more than $16,000 each, in hopes of reducing dangerous infant-abandonment rates and giving more options to women who must carry pregnancies to term. They say the alternative is that mothers will break the law and abandon their infants somewhere unsafe.

So far, 22 infants have been abandoned in 2025, according to the National Safe Haven Alliance; 11 were found alive, and 11 were deceased.