A 13-year-old girl whose newborn baby was found dead in a dumpster could now face felony charges.
The baby boy was found wrapped in blood jeans in a dumpster in Country Club Hills, south of Chicago, on Sunday evening.
He was taken to nearby Advocate South Suburban Hospital, but was pronounced dead at 8.17pm.
Authorities were alerted after the girl arrived at a hospital emergency room having appeared to have recently given birth.
According to the Chicago Tribune, she then confessed to having put the infant in the dumpster and said she was no aware she was pregnant.
The child's father is also reportedly 'another young person'.
It is unclear whether the baby was born alive, but he only weighed 4lbs 2oz. Newborns generally tend to weigh between 6lbs and 8lbs.
In 2001, Illinois established its Safe Haven law which allows new mothers to drop their baby off anonymously at a number of designated locations- like police stations, fire houses, and college campuses- and have the children put up for adoption, no questions asked.
A group called the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation was instrumental in establishing the law, and, with exception of this latest incident, have been markedly successful.
Since the law was enacted, 64 newborns were abandoned illegally, not including this Sunday's boy.
Dailymail