Took Mother Only 14 Minutes to Have Baby in Sask. Wal-Mart Bathroom

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. (CP) – A mother who is believed to have given birth to a baby and abandoned it in the bathroom at Wal-Mart was in the store less than 15 minutes, according to a surveillance tape released by police Thursday.

The tape shows the unidentified woman entering the store at 5:05 p.m. on Monday and leaving 14 minutes later at 5:19 p.m., police said. The baby boy was found a short time later and store staff worked to resuscitate him until an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital, where he remains.

Police released the tape in hopes of tracking the woman down. She appears to be alone on the tape, but police say she could have had help from someone outside the store.

The boy is the second newborn to be abandoned in Saskatchewan this year.

In February, a newborn was found on the back step of a Saskatoon home in frigid temperatures. While the mother in that case was found by police, she was never charged.

Several U.S. states have passed so-called “safe haven laws” that shield from prosecution mothers who abandon their babies in a safe place.

Earlier in the week, Saskatchewan Justice Minister Frank Quennell left the door open for Saskatchewan to do the same.

But on Thursday Quennell clarified his position, saying Saskatchewan already has a policy not to prosecute women who leave their babies at hospitals, clinics, police detachments or with child welfare workers.

Besides, Quennell said a Saskatchewan law would only be symbolic because criminal law is within federal jurisdiction.

“Is that going to stop every teenage mother from wanting to have the baby in the most private place possible and leaving it in a place where nobody can see her, or she thinks nobody can see her? No,” Quennell said.

“But, we need to get out the message that, in effect, we have safe havens.”