(Oregon Right to Life) — A hospital on the Idaho side of the Oregon-Idaho border announced this month they’ve received necessary funding to install a “Safe Haven Baby Box,” a secure device that enables mothers to anonymously surrender babies they cannot care for. The hospital will be the first in the area to install a box of this kind, giving moms a life-affirming option in a region targeted by Planned Parenthood for abortion tourism.
Weiser Memorial Hospital (WMH), a not-for-profit Critical Access Hospital in Weiser, Idaho – a small community of some 6,000 residents that sits almost directly on the Oregon-Idaho border – announced in a January 7 press release that the hospital “has been fully funded to install a Safe Haven Baby Box in the Emergency Department.”
Temperature-controlled devices equipped with automatic alert systems and safe locks that can only be accessed by designated personnel, Safe Haven Baby Boxes allow mothers in need to safely, legally, and anonymously surrender their newborns. The boxes are designed to immediately alert staff so that the surrendered babies will be quickly retrieved and cared for. Hundreds of baby boxes have been installed at safe sites in more than 20 states across the country.
According to WMH, the baby box the community hospital plans to install “will be the third in Idaho and the only one for over 300 miles.”
The effort to install a Safe Haven Baby Box, made possible by donors, staff, and hospital leadership, was spearheaded by WMH Emergency Department tech Karinda Palmer.
“We hope no mother ever finds herself in a situation where she needs to use this resource, but if she does, we want to ensure that the baby is safe and well cared for,” Palmer said, according to the WMH press release. Palmer shared her interest in the baby boxes with her manager, Emily MacKenzie, who “championed the effort to educate on the project and fundraise for the installation costs.” Beau McNeff, CEO of Weiser Memorial Hospital, said “[i]f we save one baby, it is all worth it.”
WHM has served Idaho’s Washington County and surrounding areas for more than 75 years. The community hospitals said in its press release that “[p]rojects like the Safe Haven Baby Box highlight WMH’s commitment to its mission… ‘to save lives, improve health, and build community.’”
Many states near Idaho – including Oregon – do not have Safe Haven Baby Boxes, the WHM press release noted. But while no site in the state has yet installed a Safe Haven Baby Box, Oregon has a safe surrender law that allows women to legally give up babies 60 days old or younger (as long as they show no signs of abuse or neglect) to staff at locations like fire stations and hospitals. While the surrenders in these cases are face-to-face, moms are not required to provide identifying information.
The planned installation of Weiser Memorial Hospital’s baby box will be welcome news to pro-life advocates in the area.
As Oregon Right to Life has reported, Malheur County in Eastern Oregon – which directly borders Idaho – has been targeted by Planned Parenthood for abortion tourism due to Oregon’s lack of restrictions on abortion in contrast to the pro-life protections in neighboring Idaho.
Idaho implemented strong pro-life legislation shortly after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, leading Planned Parenthood to quickly shutter its Boise facility and open a new one just across the border in Ontario, roughly an hour’s drive from Boise.
Following the opening of the abortion facility, Malheur County reported over 1,300 abortions in just two years – the vast majority of which were for women who did not reside in Oregon. In 2024 alone, more than a third of all Oregon abortions for out-of-state residents took place in Malheur County, with 779 (88.9%) of the county’s total 876 abortions reportedly performed for out-of-state residents. The county had zero annual abortions prior to 2023.
READ: Oregon 2024 Data – Abortion Tourism, Abortions Late in Pregnancy Up
Oregon Right to Life has directed substantial resources to supporting access to life-affirming resources and education in Eastern Oregon. An Oregon Right to Life Community Outreach project to produce a pro-life resource guide directing moms and families to fully-vetted pro-life resources on both sides of the border is currently underway. The guide is slated to be published this year.
For more information about Weiser Memorial Hospital, visit weisermemorialhospital.org. To learn more about the Safe Haven Baby Box initiative, visit shbb.org.
