Mother legally abandons newborn at Las Cruces hospital
A 24-year-old woman who walked into a local hospital Thursday morning and relinquished custody of her newborn daughter appears to have followed health and safety laws established in New Mexico, according to Las Cruces Police.
At around 2 a.m. Thursday, May 30, the woman took a five-hour-old infant to Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces and told hospital personnel that she did not want her daughter. Hospital personnel contacted Las Cruces Police who determined that no laws had been broken.
The New Mexico Safe Haven for Infants Act, state statute 24-22-3, allows a person to leave an infant with hospital staff without being subject to criminal prosecution for abandonment or abuse as long as the infant is younger than 90 days and has not been mistreated or harmed in any way.
Police said that the woman gave birth shortly before 9 p.m. on May 29 at her residence on the campus of New Mexico State University.
The infant is still being cared for at Memorial Medical Center and will be placed in the custody of New Mexico ‘s Children, Youth and Families Department.
