Senate Bill S5480A

                                BILL NUMBER:S5480A

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the education law, in relation to health education regarding
the abandoned infant protection program

PURPOSE:
This legislation requires all schools to include instruction regarding
the abandoned infant protection program and information about
responsible parenting and the availability of confidential adoption
services as part of health education.

In addition, it requires all health teachers to receive training to
increase awareness of pregnancy concealment.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
The education law is amended to add a new section 805. Subsection one
requires schools to include instruction regarding the abandoned
infant protection program, information about responsible parenting
and the availability of confidential adoption services as part of the
health education curriculum.

Subsection two provides that such instruction shall be taught by the
regular classroom teachers or by teachers certified to teach health
education, and shall be designed according to the needs and abilities
              

of the pupils at successive grade levels.

Subsection three requires that all health teachers in New York receive
training to increase awareness of pregnancy concealment and to
identify students that may be concealing a pregnancy. Such training
shall be developed by the Department of Education in conjunction with
the Department of Health.

JUSTIFICATION:
Under current law, the Abandoned Infant Protection Act allows
individuals to safely abandon an infant not more than 30 days old
with an appropriate person or in a suitable location without the fear
of criminal prosecution. All fifty states have adopted some form of
this law.

Under New York's law, the Office of Children and Family Services is
charged with disseminating informational material about the Abandoned
Infant Protection Act to hospitals and clinics, and the public.

However, campaigns targeting hospitals and clinics may not reach those
women most at risk. Experts on neonaticide say that in many cases,
women who kill or unsafely abandon their infants do not seek medical
care during the pregnancy, and instead conceal the pregnancy and
deliver the infant at home.

In addition, the law's effectiveness is also diminished due to
insufficient financing of the public awareness campaigns. After the
law was first passed in 2000, the Office of Children and Family
Services developed public service announcements, but they stopped
being broadcast after a year. Outreach is essentially limited to the
distribution of pamphlets and brochures at hospitals, high schools
and public events.

In states such as Illinois, which have incorporated instruction on the
law into teenagers' health education curriculum, the number of
infants illegally abandoned and found dead has been decreasing in
tandem with such instruction.

Therefore, in order to increase the effectiveness of the Abandoned
Infant Protection Act and save lives, this bill will increase
awareness in a cost efficient manner by incorporating instruction on
the law into the school health curriculum.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Minimal.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the 90th day after it shall have become
law;
provided, however, that effective immediately, the addition, amendment
and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the
implementation of this act on its effective date is authorized to be
made and completed on or before such date.