Lindy Herrera wasn’t sure what to expect. Abandoned babies usually get taken to county hospitals. But since this one looked like it may have some problems, it was taken to the closest one. Police officers found the hours-old infant in a dumpster and brought the baby boy to the nurses. He was wrapped in an aluminum thermal blanket, slightly bloodied by the rugged stump of his umbilical chord. Herrera, an RN at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, cleaned the dirt and ants off his small chubby body. She noticed a dime-sized sore on his upper lip where the ants had eaten away. Then another on his left nostril. Another above his right eye. Though all the ants had been washed off, over the next few hours they continued to creep out of his nose and ears. Most of the ants were then rinsed out of his body with a tube put down his stomach. Two weeks later, healed and healthy, the infant was taken to foster care and later adopted.

Despite California’s Safely Surrendered Baby Law of 2001, designating hospitals and fire stations legal drop-off areas within 72 hours of birth, women are still leaving infants in dumpsters, trash bags and on doorsteps. Last month there were at least two cases in Northern California alone. Debbe Magnusen, founder and CEO of Project Cuddle in Orange County, says there are various reasons why women don’t use the law. Some are afraid it’s not confidential, some aren’t sure which fire stations participate, and some just don’t know about the law.

Why would a woman abandon her newly born baby?

“Fear is the biggest factor,” says Magnusen, whose organization was founded specifically to help prevent babies from being abandoned.

“Maybe she already has a child and mom and dad said they’d help with the first one. Now she has two. Maybe she was raped... And there are girls whose husbands refuse to use a condom and tell the girl it’s her fault if she gets pregnant, and the girls believe this.”

Many women who come to Magnusen find out they’re pregnant too late to have an abortion. Others are afraid to be identified by hospital cameras, or are on drugs and fear they will be arrested because they put their child in danger and it doesn’t qualify as a “safe” surrender.

“The school system in California requires sex education to include the Safe Surrender Law,” says Magnusen. “But so far, it hasn’t been done.” On top of that, there hasn’t been much funding for publicizing the law and legal drop-off areas.

Out of an estimated 293 drop-off cases in California between 2001 and 2005, the majority were done illegally, with the newborns left to be found or die. There were 122 babies surrendered, and 130 illegally abandoned, though found alive. The state has stopped trying to track the number of abandoned babies found dead. Magnusen, of Project Cuddle, estimates 41.

The state of mind a woman must be in to abandon her baby is unfathomable for many, but an unwanted pregnancy can make you think crazy things. Things Jennifer Whately, 22, of Orange County, struggled with when she found out she was pregnant two years ago.

Whately had no intentions of keeping her babies. She wanted an abortion, but instead decided on adoption to please her mother. At 5’6 and 110 lbs. the pregnancy was painful, overwhelming her tiny frame. As her belly swelled, she thought of different ways she could miscarry. She smoked cigarettes. She thought numerous times about running and falling on her belly. These thoughts got worse when the pain of the pregnancy became unbearable and her blood pressure was high due to anxiety and stress.

“It got bad towards the end,” Whately recalls. “I just kept thinking, ‘I’m going through all this for nothing. How can I stop it?’”

Although Whately suffered physically and emotionally through the pregnancy, actually giving up her twins caused the most pain.

“It was hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” recalls Whately.

Whately worked with Project Cuddle and received prenatal care, informing her doctors and Magnusen when she considered doing harmful things to the babies. They helped her with adoption, and she receives pictures of her twins every other month.

Project Cuddle has been a life-saver, not just for babies but for the women who need their help. But it is the only one of its kind in California; there’s nothing in the Bay Area that works to prevent infant abandonment, or assist women trying to hide a pregnancy.

The issue of abandoned babies is fairly rare in San Francisco, according to Dewayne Tully of the San Francisco Police Department, but the SFPD admits it doesn’t keep stats on this issue. The California Department of Social Services stated in a 2005 report that accurate tracking of abandoned babies, both alive and deceased, is a continuous challenge since the information depends on reporting from law enforcement and child welfare services.

Getting the word out about the law takes resources that run dry. There was little funding when the bill was first signed to let people know it even existed. Social Services reported that between May and December of 2003 announcements went out for a public awareness program about the law.

Despite the lack of funds, Santa Clara County is in the process of making outreach information kits available to raise awareness. Project Cuddle has an educational DVD for schools due out next month.

“My eighth grade daughter just did a report on the law,” says Herrera. “The word is getting out there.”