Body of premature baby found buried under a pile of leaves in Brooklyn

Authorities have announced the discovery of a deceased baby in a pile of leaves in Brooklyn on Thursday. The baby was believed to be born prematurely, at about five to seven months gestation, though news reports vary as to the baby's age.

Key Takeaways:

• The remains of a premature baby were discovered in a garbage bag buried under a pile of leaves in Brooklyn last week.

• Authorities have been unable to confirm the baby's gestational age, as well as the manner of death. They are still searching for the parents.

• With the widespread availability of the abortion pill via telehealth, it is possible that the child was a victim of a chemical abortion.

• No child deserves to be tossed away like trash.

The Details:

The fetal remains of a baby boy were found Thursday morning, after someone doing yardwork found the body stuffed in a bag under a pile of leaves outside the Bay View Houses on 102nd Street.

News reports surrounding the discovery vary as to the age of the child, with some saying the fetus was believed to be around 25 weeks gestation, while others report the baby being closer to full-term. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the exact cause of death, while an investigation remains into the identity of the parents.

Neighbors at the scene expressed shock at the discovery.

"Feel sorry for the baby. The baby doesn't need to pay the consequences for people's mistakes," resident Richard Solis told ABC 7.

Spread the word: Desperate parents need to know that Safe Haven laws exist

"You can't just throw it out. It's not an animal, not trash," added neighbor Lisa Deroche, who created a memorial at the scene. "I dropped the teddy bear for her, and my brother dropped the balloons because she's a baby. She's innocent," Deroche said.

"The more I find out, this is just, it gets sicker and sicker," Kaitlyn Fernandez told CBS News. "Everyone's disgusted, we're all kind of traumatized. It has nothing to do with us but we all live here."

Zoom Out:

Thursday was the second time in as many days that an infant was discovered abandoned in New York City. In the first instance, the child was found alive and was rescued. Both incidents serve as a reminder that each state, including New York, has a Safe Haven law allowing a parent to legally surrender an infant they feel unable to care for.

The infant found in Brooklyn may have perished via stillbirth, abandonment, or murder. There is also the chance that the fetal remains could be the result of a chemical abortion. The abortion pill's widespread availability through the mail makes it much easier for a mother to take the pill at any stage of pregnancy (well past the 10 week FDA limit).

When a child is killed via the abortion pill, the mother has to deliver the body of her dead baby — alone, at home. Though the bodies of most of these preborn children are simply flushed down the toilet, if a mother takes the pill much later in pregnancy, she will be left with the body of an infant who is big enough to have survived outside the womb. This happened in Nebraska, when a teen and her mother were charged with burning and burying the body of an infant after the teen took the abortion pill when she was 24 weeks pregnant.

New York law allows abortion all the way through birth if the abortionist determines that the mother's life or health is at risk, which also means that had the infant's mother visited an abortion facility, her child could have been legally killed with no ramifications or media headlines.

Neighbors in the area are rightly outraged that a child would be discarded in such a manner, but had the remains of this lifeless infant been found in the trash outside of an abortion business, it would be business as usual. The discrepancy is just one of many contradictions related to support for abortion.

Bottom Line:

No matter how the baby died, no person deserves to be tossed away like garbage. Each child deserves dignified treatment — both in and out of the womb.