Daniel's Law, enacted in 2000, allows citizens to leave an infant up to 30 days old with an employee at a hospital or health facility without fear of being prosecuted. The law was named for a newborn who survived burial in a landfill.

This was an eminently sensible measure. It was designed so that scared mothers could turn over the responsibility for their newborns to a qualified party without fear of being arrested for child abandonment. The goal, of course, was to provide frightened new mothers an out that would save the lives of infants who might otherwise be left to die.

Now, Sumter Police Chief Patty Patterson has joined with state Reps. David Weeks, D-Sumter, and Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, to push a bill that would allow infants to be left at more locations. Under the proposed revision, an infant also could be dropped off at police stations and churches without penalty.

Patterson was prompted to campaign for expanding the law after she and a fellow officer found a baby boy, just a few hours old, abandoned on the side steps of a Sumter church after an anonymous call to 911. She hopes that increasing the options will lesson the fear of turning newborns over to police or church staff members.

But we hope lawmakers consider not only the comfort level of the mothers but also the potential hazards to the infants. It is not responsible simply to leave a newborn child on the steps of a church without first making sure someone knows the child is there.

The goal is to ensure the survival of the child. Frightened mothers must be required at least to make certain that their infants are under someone's care if the mothers are to receive legal protection against charges of abandonment.

With that assurance, however, we think Patterson is correct in pressing for more options. Mothers who may not have easy access to a medical facility should be able to locate a church or police station with someone inside who will take care of their infants until the proper authorities can be notified.

Again, the goal is to save newborns from being left in garbage bins or worse environments. Increasing the places where mothers who plan to abandon their children can drop them safely should increase the odds that they will do so.