Woman Charged With Leaving Newborn In Wal-Mart Toilet

[matcom]

<snip>

MACON, Ga. -- A woman was charged Tuesday with leaving her newborn baby in a Wal-Mart bathroom toilet, covered in trash and tissue paper. The child survived.

Diane Shorter, 26, was jailed on charges of aggravated assault and cruelty to a child.

The infant girl was found Sunday afternoon by three Wal-Mart employees. A customer started CPR until a fire department worker arrived and revived the baby, according to a police report. The child was hospitalized in serious condition.

Witnesses were able to identify the woman who was believed to be the mother and she was found at her home.

"It's very sad, especially given the amount of help agencies there are out there," Sheriff's spokesman David Davis told The Macon Telegraph.

Like many states, Georgia has a law letting a mother leave a newborn at any medical facility within a week of birth without fear of prosecution.

http://www.wftv.com/irresistible/4862574/detail.html

[Hugin]

1. Geeeze...

Expect to see more of this sort of thing once
Roe V. Wade is Evangelized.

Georgia? Help Agencies? HAHAHAHAHA!

[underpants]

2. Sick

no joke. that is just sick

[Momgonepostal]

3. Why do some women think abandonment at a restroom...

...or garbage can, etc, is the better option than taking the baby to the hospital? I can certainly understand feeling desparate and that you're not ready to be a parent, but if you're at 9 months pregnant and going to have the baby anyway, why not give it a fighting chance rather than dumping it somewhere?

[Shell Beau]

4. That is exactly how I feel. This

type of incident really pisses me off. She was 26 years old. She should be mature enough to make a much wiser, humane decision.

[liontamer]

5. maybe they don't know their options

I don't know what the law is in my state in such matters
I'm sure this woman isn't a legal expert. There is also the possibility that she panicked.

[Shell Beau]

7. Sure, but she had 9 months to look into

what her options were. She is a 26 year old adult.

[miss_kitty]

12. this woman is turned into a criminal as direct result of

the lack of resources for women's health care issues in this country, including unwanted pregnancy and post-partum depression. I don't know the particulars, but do you know how much a termination costs? If she's working poor, she can't get it. For her to do this, she had to have been denying her pregnancy for as long as she's known about it, hiding it from her friends, if she has any, and praying for a miscarriage. She is not in a 'normal' state of mind. she's been brainwashing herself since she found out. I doubt it was 9 months. A lot of these women are in such a state of denial, they are pretty far along by the time it is info they take on board.

Be pissed at the motherfuckers who spend money on wars and taxcuts for the wealthy leaving no money for our health care, No health or sex ed in schools, the POSes who intimidate women going into women's clinics for terminations, and the judgmental hypocrisy that drive her and thousands just like her to this desperate act.

Please, don't blame the victim

[Shell Beau]

14. I am pissed at all of those people too, but to me, the victim

is the baby. I have no idea what was going through the woman's mind. But I do know that a baby almost died as a result of it. I am sure she wasn't thinking clearly. But, if no one else is out there to help her, then she needs to help herself. I know it is easier said than done, but when a life is on the line, something has to be done. I certainly understand your point of view and I agree with most everything you say, but I have to put some of the blame on this woman.

[miss_kitty]

15. "she needs to help herself"

have you been reading Margaret Thatcher?

Of course the baby is the victim. In addition to everything else this little tyke has gone thru in its short life, we can probably assume there was no prenatal care.

And fortunately for you, you apparently have NO IDEA what it is to be incapable of helping yourself. You really cannot judge everyone in the world based on your mental soundness, your abilities, your background. Neither of us has any way of knowing what has happened to make this woman resort to this as a solution to her problem, but I'll bet her background is much different than ours.

An abandoned baby was found out on the peninsula a few years back. Or Lynnwood. I can't remember. The 'news' vultures started question the people who lived near the spot the baby was found. They asked a mom and her daughter if they knew who would do such a thing and the mom (an overindulgent looking type of person who lived in a trailer) said "No I can't imagine. But if it were MY little girl, I can tell you, there'd be hell to pay, and she'd be paying the rest of her life. Isn't that right honey?" The girl nodded. Guess who the mom was. Her nodding daughter had given birth in a tiny closet or the bathroom and sneaked the baby out of the home.

Just because the woman is 26 doesn't mean she has some magical wisdom or insight. The fact that she did this points to her being already impaired by mental and/or emotional disturbance.

Some people simply cannot help themselves, for whatever reason, usually severe depression. Incapable. Unable. Incapacitated. Disabled. No support system. No loving family or friends. This woman did not commit the crime.

[liontamer]

18. well said

of course none of us would do such a thing, but we the fact that it is so unfathomable just shows that we are coming from a very different place than this woman

[miss_kitty]

20. Thank you.

Actions like baby abandonment and moms killing their own kids are symptoms of a deeper troubling problems that face our country as a whole and humanity itself.

Those actions are not the illness, but the canaries in the coal mine, showing us we are doing something terribly wrong.

[Shell Beau]

19. I have felt helpless before. Not in a situation such as this,

but I have most certainly felt like there was no one out there who understood how I felt or what I was going through. But I got help. I take responsibility for my own actions. 26 years old doesn't mean wisdom, but it does mean you have to take responsibility. Like I said, I see your point of view. But there were options for this woman. She could have dropped the baby off at a hospital anonymously. She may not have known that, but I am fairly sure she knew putting a helpless child in a garbage can wasn't the right thing to do. It is a tragic situation, but thankfully the baby was saved in time.

[miss_kitty]

21. well we simply won't agree on this point

:hi:

[Shell Beau]

22. You're right! But I appreciate your point of view!

:hi:

[Midlodemocrat]

16. Sorry, I don't agree.

The baby is the victim. This woman was an adult. Your argument might convince me if it were a teenager, but at 26 I knew damn well what I was doing.

[miss_kitty]

17. read #15

you can't judge her by your standards, your mental fitness, your abilities to handle a crisis. None of us can.

[Midlodemocrat]

23. No, but you can't claim that she was

a victim lacking support, either. You don't know that. Some people are just irresponsible. Remember the teenager who gave birth at the prom and then continued to party? She had a lot of resources at her disposal, but chose instead to behave in a selfish manner and end the baby's life.

If she were developmentally delayed or challenged, that would be a very valid point.

She did a terrible thing. I hope that baby survives.

[miss_kitty]

24. The teen at the prom was a different kettle of fish

You can't claim she had support available to her, or if she knew what resources were available to her or how to obtain them either.

None of us here knows how she became pregnant. Is she a white woman from a racist family who had an affair with a non-white guy? Is she from a fundie family who would shun her for her pregnancy? Was she raped? Does she have a family who would have accused her of being a slut for being raped? Is she a manic depressive? Is she developmentally delayed? Did she finish school? Did her parents talk to her about sex? Does SHE think she did something bad for having sex or being raped?

Why is it so hard to find help? It's not 'out there' in the open. If she was marginally employed, chances are she would not qualify for medical help.

Let me tell you something that seems to be not understood around here.
You have to be in extremely dire emotional straights to think having a baby in a public loo and abandoning it in a trash bin is a solution to the problem. We all know it's not the solution. Most women who do this have been denying the pregnancy even exists. They are tortured emotionally and mentally and may be in a fugue state.

Just be glad you haven't had to face this kind of devastation, and that you will raise kids who know they can come to you with an overwhelming problem, whether they're 16, 26 or 36, and you will be there to help. They won't feel their only choice is so awful, it will revile strangers who have no idea as to what went into making the decision.

[LisaL]

You don't know any of this.

Yet, you have come up with about 100 of excuses for this woman.
You got no clue what the hell is wrong with her, but it's ridiculous of you to declare she didn't commit the crime. She certainly did commit a crime.

[miss_kitty]

34. you know no more than I do

and if I were to hazard a guess, based on your one liners here, I'd say you know much less than I do.

You really have no basis in fact to call my reasoned replies, based on knowledge of this type of behaviour, to call my declaration ridculous. And she has not been on trial. It is not for you to declare she's commited a crime. That is for a jury. And even they get it wrong sometimes.

[LisaL]

36. Is dumping a child in as a trash a crime or not?

:eyes:

[miss_kitty]

38. why are you asking me-you seem to have ALL the answers,

miss :eyes:
you've already passed judgment on her and me, without all the facts in evidence. Apparently you have no grasp the concept of degrees, extenuating circumstance, mental instability, innocent until proven guilty, right to due process.

[LisaL]

47. In case you still can't figure it out-it was a rhetorical question.

:eyes:

[miss_kitty]

56. oh

another of your clever one liners punctuated with :eyes: My aren't you clever and scintillating. I could read your shit all day and night. please do give me the URLs for other sites you post at on the Internets. I would like to follow your intelligent work in great detail.

[LisaL]

63. Would you like the keys to my house with that?

:sarcasm:

[LisaL]

30. Using your logic, nobody can commit a crime.

Do you think your bank robber doesn't have issues? Or your serial killer?
Geez!
WTF doesn't have issues? Isn't like 50% of americans have some sort of mental illness?

[miss_kitty]

33. uh

not really well thought out reply on your part, lizzy

[LisaL]

35. No really well thought? You don't even have any info on the woman,

but already came up with 100 of excuses for why the poor thing did what she did. She is depressed? Well, show me someone who isn't depressed.
That would be something.

[miss_kitty]

39. yeah actually I do have info

and I posted a link in this thread. You'd do well to read thoroughly

BTW, you have LESS info on this woman than I do, and you are condemning her out of hand.

That's a progressive trait I admire.

[AuntieM1957]

55. miss kitty, just thought you might like to know that I agree with you

there's nothing to be gained by joining my voice to the chorus of people who will condemn this woman.

the baby's okay, and I'd prefer to let a jury decide the mother's fate.

And if they are tolerant with her, that's great. She just might need a little help - and that's what I thought progressives were all about.

[miss_kitty]

59. Thank you

I don't know why This is pissing me off, that people aren't 'getting' it.

Yes Babies in trash cans=bad. Moms who do it=ill more often than not. I wasn't put in jail for having cancer and I wasn't shunned for it, yet the mentally ill are often denied care, their illnesses are not recognised and then their incomprehensible actions are criminalised. I don't get it :shrug:

[AuntieM1957]

60. Mental Health Care in the U.S.A. is deplorable

we've gone backward, not forward.

it's very sad to see that the attitude, blame the diseased, has been widely adopted.

I get what you're saying, and agree completely.

Thanks for saying it so well - I get it.

[Momgonepostal]

25. IMO, the baby is the victim here

I'm just not at a stage of life where I can muster up much sympathy for this woman. Maybe it's because I'm a mom or because I've had friends with fertility problems. It bothers me that there are childless couples who would make great parents and would love to have a baby and this woman just throws hers in a toilet.

Yes, I know our system is lacking, that if we spent more money on social services instead of unnecessary wars we'd have fewer unwanted pregnancies and maybe even desparate people in general. Still, it wouldn't have cost this woman a dime to provided better for a baby she didn't want. You don't have to be a legal expert to know you can give your baby up for adoption.

And does an abortion cost anything if you qualify for Medicaid? I don't think it costs much of anything in CA.

[miss_kitty]

31. I don't know

but your argument presupposes that the woman thinks the way you do. Has the same resources as you and your friends do. Has the kind of pluck that allows her to make lemonade out of lemons. And what I have been saying is, that in most of these case of crimes against babies, the mother that commit these acts are desperately unbalanced, often based on a combination of personal experience and chemical imbalances.

You are right. You don't have to be a legal expert to know you can give your baby up for adoption. But these women that do this are in total and complete denial about their condition on one hand, and just want it over on another. In their minds, it's something that's not really happening to them.

This is an act like many other moms-harming-their-offspring not predicated on reason.

Medicaid pays some costs in some states. But for some that is not enough. This woman needed so much more than prenatal care, is my guess. And before she became pregnant, however that occurred.

I just looked this up about her:

Macon Telegraph
http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/local/12400822.htm

<snip>
"...The charges are felonies and could carry a sentence of up to life in prison, Davis said. Tuesday night, investigators still had no clear motives, he said.

The baby, a female, is still in serious condition at the Medical Center.

Shorter's mother, Delores Shorter, 47, of Fort Valley, said Tuesday she didn't know her daughter was pregnant. She had not seen her in about five months, and during phone conversations her daughter never mentioned her pregnancy, she said.

"It doesn't sound like her," Delores Shorter said. "She's a very good mother, she has three others."

She said her daughter was working at a McDonald's in Macon and is not married, but was living with her children's father.

Her other children are ages 7, 6, and 2, Delores Shorter said.

"I don't understand. The only thing I could think of was she snapped," she said. "No, I don't know why."

So there we have it-she's had other kids, never mentioned to mom she was pregnant, and this doesn't seem like her normal behaviour.

And like I said earlier I too believe the baby is a victim. But I believe the mom is too.

[LisaL]

32. Well, I am freaking sure that a bank robber doesn't think the same

way I do. But if the police catches the bank robber, they better stick him in prison for what he does. I am not going to worry if he robs banks because he had a hard childhood, is an alcoholic, and doesn't have a supportive family. The same goes for this woman.

[miss_kitty]

37. A woman giving birth in a bathroom and rubbishing the baby

and someone robbing a bank have virtually little in common. You are comparing apples and oranges.
Glad your life has been so great you have no concept of empathising with a woman who would commit an act of this magnitude.

[LisaL]

46. No, I don't emphasize with a woman who dumps her child into a

toilet, when all she had to do is to take that child to a hospital.
Silly me.
:sarcasm:

[miss_kitty]

53. you are too too funny

and your one liners are highly insightful. Your sarcasm-delightful.
Nice way to carry on an discussion, when one is incapable of forming a cogent argument. A lot of people are bamboozled by that tactic.

[ForrestGump]

68. Abandoning a baby as she did is FAR worse than robbing a bank

So, yeah, you're right...they're very different scenarios.

[miss_kitty]

6. Since it happens over and over again, there must be a deep reason for it

How about the deep shame associated with women having sex, while it's a badge of honour for guys.
also the lack of help in this country for single moms and the further condemnation for having been 'caught out'
In a couple of states, (WA being one of them) laws have been passed that allow these desparate women to leave the baby at a hospital or fire station no questions asked. There are still abandonments here.

In the old days, when ther were orphanages, these are probably the babies that ended up on doorsteps.
These women are so distressed when they do this, they just are not thinking clearly.

[Left Is Write]

11. I think you're right.

There have got to be deeper emotional and mental issues at play. Clearly, we are not talking about women capable of rational thought.

It's just very sad.

[AuntieM1957]

58. Has anyone ever studied the mothers who do this?

Might provide some insight into why some women/girls don't know their pregnant until they deliver, or why some don't want the babies and abandon them.

I'm suspecting there might be a hormonal connection. Post-partum depression is now accepted (except of course by Tom Cruise, and who cares, eh?).

I don't think this is a character defect on the part of specific women.

[miss_kitty]

64. it's hard to find info. they're called 'discarded babies'

Discarded Infants

Research on the discarded infant population is limited. States are required to submit data to DHHS on the number of children who enter foster care due to abandonment. However, national statistics on the number of infants discarded in public places (e.g., dumpsters, trash bins, alleys, warehouses, bathrooms) are not kept (DHHS, 2001).

Currently data on the number of discarded babies is based solely upon newspaper accounts and other media reports (Dailard, 2000). In an effort to estimate the prevalence, DHHS (2001) used newspaper reports from the Lexis-Nexis database to estimate the number of discarded infants. In 1992, there were 65 reported discarded babies. In 1997, 105 were reported, representing a 62% increase. Of the total number of discarded infants in 1997, 33 were found dead, compared to eight in 1992.

http://library.adoption.com/Foster-Parenting-and-Adoption/Boarder-Babies-Abandoned-Infants-and-Discarded-Infants/article/3736/4.html

[petronius]

66. I think it's a safe bet she knew she was pregnant

given she has three other children, although she may not have known about the baby-surrender law. I'm very curious about the children's father, whom she lives with - what is her home life like?

As awful as these events are, I really can't see that there is a solution in the criminal system...

[AuntieM1957]

69. I wasn't referring to this specific event

rather, an earlier poster and I were interested in why this happens over and over?

to discuss the larger picture.

[Left Is Write]

70. I believe that in some cases, it's less an issue of

not knowing she's pregnant, but rather such extreme denial that it's as though the pregnancy doesn't exist.

[Divameow77]

8. I think a charge of Attempted Murder

would be more appropriate, it's obvious she was trying to kill the baby.

I didn't know Georgia had such a law, and I used to live there.

[DS1]

9. and there are still decent people out there who have to pull teeth

to adopt, while social services looks over beaten kids, and other moms just toss their babies away like trash.

fucked up country

[Left Is Write]

10. These kinds of stories always make me sad.

[NV Whino]

13. Wal-Mart?

Geez. The least she coulda done was leave it at Macy's or someplace.

[Rising Phoenix]

26. I already read this post...

and it's a good one, but this time I just wanted to see your speedy little ass

[deadparrot]

27. OMG.

Poor baby.

This is the kind of situation that illustrates the dire need for more education and help for pregnant women in this country.

[Rising Phoenix]

28. very true

imagine how scared both mother and child had to be

[silverpatronus]

29. i have no sympathy

if you don't think you can handle, and you must abandon your child, at the very least abandon it at a hospital, firehouse, police station, orphanage, church...hell, somebody's front stoop! but a toilet? cover it in trash? no, i have no sympathy for the mother here. and i'm amazed at the number of excuses being put forth for something inexcusable. she abandoned the baby, fine. well, not fine, but i can see and sympathise with someone not being able to deal. but by hell, if you're going to abandon your kid, give it a fighting chance! my issue isn't the abandonment, it's WHERE and HOW the baby was abandoned! she deserves that charge she's facing and a whole lot more.

[Gemini Cat]

40. Agree.

I feel bad for the kid. Only the kid.

There is no excuse for what this woman did.

[miss_kitty]

41. Like I said to most everyone on this thread who condemns this woman

without a trial, without considering her story, her mental condition-

I am glad you have lived such a life of ease, you have no concept of desperation so deep, you don't know what to do. That nothing bad has ever happened to you. That you or any of your loved ones never have and never will be faced with committing an act so heinous based on extenuating circumstances.
Why do you think there are different degrees of murder and manslaughter, sexual offenses, burglary. Why self defense exists? Oh and please, don't point out to me this was not SD. I am setting up examples, to point out the existence of a grey scale in between the black and white of the legal system.

So if you or a kid of yours did something in a state of extreme emotional distress, there would be no excuse for it? Would you like people like hanging out in a matcom news thread and clucking their tongues in disgust over the act and declaring you guilty out of hand?
Would you like to be presumed guilty by people who hadn't bothered to learn about the story, the events leading up to the act or the history behind it?

[LisaL]

44. You seem to do just the opposite without any problem whatsoever.

You have declared this woman not guilty of anything without even knowing who the hell she is.
You don't care about this woman's history either. You just think that whatever it is, it's excuses her dumping that poor child into the toilet.

[miss_kitty]

50. that's an idiotic message to post

and does nothing to further intelligent discourse. You have declared this woman guilty of everything without even knowing who the hell she is or what her motivation is.
"You don't care about this woman's history either." - You have know way of knowing whether or not this statement is true.

"You just think that whatever it is, it's excuses her dumping that poor child into the toilet." - You have know way of knowing whether or not this statement is true either.

Quit telling me and others what I think and quit attacking me.

[LisaL]

61. I don't have to tell you what you think-you have made it

very clear in your posts.
:eyes:
You have made a 1001 excuse for why this woman dumped her baby, without having any information on who she is.

[miss_kitty]

65. I told you I did have info, I posted a link to the link

and it's obvious by your posts, you do not comprehend what I am saying, so you are not in any position whatsoever to declare what i am or am not thinking. And you keep exagerrating and misrepresenting what I say. I have suggest she is in some sort of mental distress. a type most of us will never know. That is not 100 or 1001 'excuse' (sic). It is one possible reason.

And as I have told you ad naseum, without having any information on who she is, you keep declaring her guilty.
And again with the :eyes: gettin old. not creative-but I'm sure I could come with 1001 excuse for that lack on your part.

[ScreamingMeemie]

45. At 19, I knew enough to not put my newborn daughter in a trash can, and

this was without the support of pretty dysfunctional parents. At 15, God forbid it ever happens to her, my daughter knows she has my support no matter what. At 26, mental condition (which I believe they would have mentioned in the story) or no, a person should know better. :shrug:

[miss_kitty]

48. the story says they don't know why she did it

also her mom was never told her daughter (who was working at McDonald's and already a mother of three) was pregnant in the phone conversations she's had with her in the last 5 months. Ironically, her daughter was not visiting her in the last 5 months.. She said she thinks her daughter just snapped.

Of course-EVERYONE! WHEN WE ARE IN A PROPER STATE OF MIND WE KNOW NOT TO KEEP OUR PREGNANCIES A SECRET AND PUT OUR FRESHLY BIRTHED SECRET BABIES INTO GARBAGE CANS.

You are assuming this woman is mentally and emotionally healthy. Is there not room on a 'progressive' board for members to think this woman has a severe disability that made this action something that was not in her control?

Read up on mental illness before you start judging the shit out of these poor motherfuckers.

[ScreamingMeemie]

49. Please don't yell at me. I didn't yell at you. You are drawing just as

many conclusions as those you accuse. On the face of it, without any of us knowing anything...this is horrific in a free society. I think this woman panicked and made a very poor decision at the time. My story was an illustration that even the young, the confused, the panicked, can make a rational decision.

I'm sorry I disagree with you, but I cannot believe you have lashed out as such. We can agree to disagree on a progressive board. Can't we? :shrug:

[miss_kitty]

51. I wasn't yelling at you Mrs G

I was yelling at everyone who is telling me it's irresponsible to put a baby in a toilet. I know that. you know that. we all knew that when we were 6. There's this whole train of thought here that this woman had malice aforethought going on here, and I am trying to point out that it's quite possible she was insane.

And I wasn't lashing out. I'm tired of repeating it-the woman is crazy and she needs help-not to be criminalised....

[Gemini Cat]

67. For starters I don't have the power to legally condemn her-

with or with-out a trial. However, I am allowed to have an opinion, as you are allowed to have an opinion as well.
I may not have all the facts, but then again, neither do you. :eyes:

Now as far as my life of ease or lack thereof is concerned, that's neither here or there. I do know however, it's wrong, bad, nasty, mean, and against the law to toss a baby into a loo. Sorry, but it's a bloody rotten thing to do. Especially when there are other options.
I am curious if it was an allegedly mentally ill guy who took his girl friend's baby and tossed it in the rubbish heap, would you be so ready to defend him?

[sasquatch]

42. That remins me my sister's nickname is "Turd"

[Roland99]

43. An abortion would have been a sin

:sarcasm:

[AuntieM1957]

52. She'll be tried in a court of law - until then - I chose to believe

she was out of her mind.

I can think of lots of reasons why she did what she did. Unless you've been pregnant with an unwanted child, I don't think you can understand what she felt.

I'm glad the baby will survive, and hope mother and child find kind hearts to guide them.

[-..__...]

54. So, when is Wal-Mart going to put it to work?

They can legally claim it as theirs... right?

[HadItUpToHere]

57. aggravated assault & cruelty to a child??

how about attempted murder?

[Swede]

62. It has to be a mental illness.

This shit happens over and over.

[KFC]

71. I think Tom Cruise needs to weigh in on the situation

In the meantime, enjoy the hole, mom.

[UrbScotty]

72. If the baby's lucky, that was the only time (s)he'll be at Wal-Mart. (nt)