Baby Doe Law

Child Abuse Amendments of 1984

Other short titles	Child Abuse Amendments of 1983 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act Amendments of 1983
Long title	An act to extend and improve provisions of laws relating to child abuse and neglect and adoption, and for other purposes.
Nicknames	Baby Doe Law Baby Doe Amendment
Enacted by	the 98th United States Congress
Effective	October 9, 1984
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 98–457
Statutes at Large	98 Stat. 1749
Codification
U.S.C. sections amended	42 U.S.C. §§ 5102, 5103, 5103(b)(2), 5104
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 1904 by Austin Murphy (D‑PA 22nd), John Erlenborn (R‑IL 13th), Mario Biaggi (D‑NY 19th), Steve Bartlett (R‑TX 3rd), Paul Simon (D‑IL 22nd), James Jeffords (R‑VT AL), George Miller (D‑CA 7th), William Goodling (R‑PA 19th), Baltasar Corrada (I‑PR AL), Steve Gunderson (R‑WI 3rd), Joseph Gaydos (D‑PA 20th), Pat Williams (D‑MT 1st) on March 3, 1983 Committee consideration by House – Education and Labor Passed the House on February 2, 1984 (396-4) Passed the Senate on July 26, 1984 (89-0) Reported by the joint conference committee on September 19, 1984; agreed to by the House on September 26, 1984 (voice vote) and by the Senate on September 28, 1984 (voice vote) Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on October 9, 1984

The Baby Doe Law or Baby Doe Amendment is an amendment to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, passed in 1984, that sets forth specific criteria and guidelines for the treatment of disabled newborns in the United States, regardless of the wishes of the parents.