Wichita ? Three years after the state enacted a law allowing parents to leave unwanted newborns at safe public facilities without facing prosecution, no one has taken advantage of the law.

Under the state’s Newborn Infant Protection Act, a parent of an infant less than 45 days old “can leave their unharmed baby with an employee of a city or county health department, fire station or medical facility… without being prosecuted.”

The law requires the staff to protect the infant and notify law enforcement so the newborn can be delivered to Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and the adoption process can begin. SRS must try to notify the birth parents and grandparents of the newborn’s status so they could seek custody.

SRS spokesman Kyle Kessler said the agency didn’t know of a single case in which the law has been used.

In one case, a 1-year-old child was left at a designated facility in Topeka, but the law applies only to infants under 45 days old.

The recent death of a newborn in Sumner County may spark new discussion about the law. Rebecca Gregory, 29, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of her infant. Authorities say the infant, who was born outside a hospital at an undisclosed location, died around Nov. 25.

Investigators, who have been searching for the newborn’s remains, will try to identify bone fragments found in a pig-farm burn pit near where the woman lives.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment recorded two deaths in which abandonment was a factor from 1999 to 2002.

Kansas is one of about 42 states with “safe haven” laws, enacted in response to dead newborns being found in trash bins and other places.

Linda Landoll, an emergency room social worker with Via Christi Regional Medical Center-St. Francis Campus, said that when the law went into effect, hospitals wanted to be prepared for parents who might leave newborns.

“We had extensive training on what to do” — on how to be nonjudgmental, on how to explain that someone else will care for the child, she said.

“But nobody ever pulled up to our door. Maybe a lot of people don’t even remember that law now,” Landoll said.

She also wondered if some people might not trust that they wouldn’t be prosecuted.

Efforts to publicize the law have been limited, partly because of the cost, Kessler said.

An SRS brochure explaining the law goes to department offices and some county health offices.

In past years, some lawmakers have called for a wider awareness effort, including billboards. But legislative efforts to raise money for advertising the law have so far failed.