HARRISBURG – A bill was signed into law allowing a parent to surrender their newborn at an urgent care center in PA. Senate Bill 267, now Act 134, includes urgent care centers as additional safe havens for parents to surrender newborns within 28 days of birth. Currently, parents can relinquish infants at any PA hospital, to a police officer at a police station or to an emergency services provider at an EMS station. If the baby is unharmed and not a victim of a crime, parents will not face any penalties. Urgent care centers would be required to take any abandoned newborn into protective custody and facilitate the baby’s transport to a hospital, where another health care provider would take over care. Urgent care centers must also display signs indicating the operating hours during which parents can surrender their infants. Over 350 urgent care centers are currently in PA.
