Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner are investigating after a newborn baby was found dead outside a Near North Side firehouse on Saturday morning.
A CPD spokesperson said the baby boy was discovered inside a duffel bag outside the fire station at 1044 North Orleans around 5 a.m., but the officer did not say who found the infant. The baby was pronounced dead at the scene.
Temperatures were in the low- to mid-20s at the time.
Illinois state law allows parents or persons they designate to deliver children that they cannot or do not want to care for to firehouses, police stations, hospitals, and other designated locations within 30 days of birth. The adults are not required to answer any questions and are immune from prosecution, according to a 2019 Chicago Tribune report.
The paper said 131 newborns had been given up safely since the law took effect in 2001, but another 83 were abandoned illegally, and 52% of them died.
