Hoosier leaders gathered Tuesday at the Statehouse to hail the 25th anniversary of a safe haven law that encourages parents to surrender infants rather than abandon them.

It “has protected the most vulnerable among us and given hope to others in crisis for a quarter of a century,” said Linda Znachko, founder of He Knows Your Name. The ministry buries “unclaimed” children — including aborted and miscarried infants — and adults.

The law was approved in 2000, after an infant was found dead outside a hospital emergency room.

Imagine “a mother gently laying her baby down, scared to go in the hospital,” Znachko said. She “left her baby, I’m sure, hoping that someone would find that child. And unfortunately, no one did until it was too late.”

The law allows the surrender of unharmed infants,

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