A baby in Texas is in critical condition after being found abandoned with its umbilical cord still attached.

The baby, who was found wrapped in a blanket inside a basket in San Antonio at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, January 21, per Fox 8 reporting, was breathing weakly and was taken to hospital immediately.

The San Antonio Police Department has been contacted for comment.

Why It Matters

Texas has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country as they have a “fetal heartbeat” abortion law, meaning women cannot receive abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. Although medical professionals are allowed to provide abortions if the health of the mother is at risk, three women in Texas died last year after being refused abortions.

While it is unclear as of this writing why this baby was abandoned, a study from Kings County Hospital-Downstate Medical Center (KCHD) found that the number of abandoned babies in New York decreased following the passage of abortion laws in 1970.

What To Know

Texas has Safe Haven, or ‘Baby Moses’ laws meaning a baby under the age of 60 days can be left at a fire station, emergency medical services station, designated emergency infant care provider facility, or hospital with no questions asked.

Per the Texas law, the baby has to be left with a staff member who should be told that the baby needs to go to a safe haven. If a parent in Texas does this, they cannot be charged with abandonment or neglect.

The baby found in San Antonio was found on the street across from a fire station, not at the station itself, opening up the possibility that the mother, if found, could be charged with abandonment.

One of the causes of the baby’s distress is Texas currently undergoing a cold snap, and temperatures in San Antonio reached a low of 26.6 degrees Fahrenheit with light snow the day the baby was found.

Pamela Allen from the Eagles Flight Advocacy and Outreach group, which works to provide community resources and holds funerals and services for babies who have died after being abandoned, spoke with local radio station News 4 about the baby.

She said it is likely the baby belonged to an unhoused woman. She also said her organization is working to make sure more people are aware of the Baby Moses law.

As well as the KCHD study, a 2023 study from Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Beth Israel Deaconess sounded the alarm over the foster system becoming overwhelmed if abortion laws are rolled back.

The HMS study warned that people “need to understand the full consequences of restricted abortion access,” stating they found “an 11 percent increase in children entering the foster care system if their mothers had undergone the first trimester of pregnancy in a state with abortion restriction laws in place.”

What People Are Saying

Pamela Allen speaking with News 4: “We’re praying for a great outcome and we’re praying that this baby will pull through.”

Ashley O’Donoghue, senior author of HMS and Beth Israel abortion and foster care study: “With the repeal of Roe v. Wade, and many states already facing overburdened foster care systems, it is important to study the impact that restricted abortion access has on the foster care system to help inform future policy changes.

“Limited access to abortion has significant personal impacts for the mothers and children affected, but also broader national economic and policy-level implications.”

What Happens Next

Allen told News 4 that she does not believe the mother will be charged with abandonment given the child was found near a Baby Moses site. So far no arrests have been made.