A Little Baby Girl Is Rescued from a Dumpster in Texas. A Dumpster

Sarah Holliday-Commentary : Sep 26, 2025
The Washington Stand

“I'm so grateful that a man and woman were in the right place at the right time to save the life of this little girl who was left in a dumpster. Clearly, God has a beautiful plan for this child's life..." -Mary Szoch, director of FRC's Center for Human Dignity

[WashingtonStand.com] All 50 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico have some form of safe haven laws, also known as Baby Moses laws or safe surrender laws, that allow mothers to surrender their babies anonymously. Locations for doing so include hospitals, fire stations, EMS providers, baby boxes, or police stations. People who choose to surrender their babies, when doing so in accordance with the rules of the safe surrender laws, won't face prosecution for abandonment. And yet, despite this, someone in Texas chose to abandon their baby in a dumpster. (Image: Pixabay)

A little baby girl, covered in dirt and trash, was found by a resident of the apartment complex attached to the dumpster. As he was getting ready to leave his home, Perry Lewis said his neighbor told him he heard crying. "He said it might be a baby," Lewis said. "So we ran over there, and it took us a couple of seconds." Sure enough, he found the baby—"covered in blood" with her "umbilical cord still attached."

Then came Lerrssy Frausto, another resident, who swept in, grabbed the baby, and began performing chest compressions as they called and waited for first responders to arrive. Frausto further described the harrowing scene: "The way that she was found in the trash can—upside down, with her head facing the trash can—hurt me. Me trying to open up her eye—I couldn't open up her eye, but it broke me. Her other eye just started rolling to the back of her head, and I'm just like, 'Please stay with me.'"

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Thankfully, the baby girl was able to be transported to Dell Children's Medical Center where she is reportedly doing well. "She's a miracle from God and an angel from the skies," Frausto added. "She was crying in the trash can. That's how they heard her cry, so she saved herself before anybody could save her." Authorities said they could not determine how long the baby was in the dumpster. However, Austin Police Department (APD) Officer Aaron Townsend said detectives are working to figure out who abandoned the baby, as well as track down anyone else who may be involved.

It's hard to fathom a situation like this. How could anyone put a baby in the trash? It's not just heartbreaking. It's abominable. It's horrendous. Egregious. There aren't enough words. The challenge is dissecting something like this in a way that still glorifies God, right? Responding in a way that is still seasoned with grace. And this is why I spoke with Mary Szoch, director of Family Research Council's Center for Human Dignity, because she knew exactly how to approach it.

"I'm so grateful," she said, "that a man and woman were in the right place at the right time to save the life of this little girl who was left in a dumpster. Clearly, God has a beautiful plan for this child's life." Szoch is a mother, and as she told me, "I cannot imagine what would drive someone to put their newborn in with the trash. All of us need to be praying for this baby girl's mother and father." But she also offered further sobering insight.

"While events like this horrify us," she emphasized, "the truth is that every single day, babies are treated as worse than trash. They are actively butchered by abortionists who attack them in the place they should be the safest: their mother's womb. The heartbreak we all feel reading the story of this baby girl is what each of us should feel every day for babies who are aborted." Indeed, what these horrible cases remind us is that, as Szoch rightly said, "Each person is made in the image of God, giving each of us incalculable dignity and worth." No one should be discarded as if they were nothing. And if this grieves you and me, imagine how much it grieves our Creator.

I couldn't even begin to imagine the state of mind of someone who would do something like this. Were they acting out of selfish ignorance? Were they panicked and afraid? Were they manipulated? We don't currently know, and we may never receive a complete answer. But as much as compassion is a good thing to have, no one, no matter their reason for doing it, is justified in harming an image bearer. This baby girl was rescued, and that's amazing. This baby girl's saving is a testament to divine providence, but as Szoch noted, millions of babies are destroyed annually in the name of "choice."

We all have choices. We can choose responsibility and accountability. God forbid, in cases of pregnancy from sexual abuse, there is still the choice to carry the child and, if unable to parent, place them in someone else's care. As observers, we can choose to respond with love while boldly proclaiming truth. These are all choices we can make. But abandonment, neglect, abuse, and murder? Those are not choices we can freely make—not without consequences—because they violate the sacred dignity of human life.

Ultimately, there will be a day when every knee will bow before Christ. Every deed we have committed, every word we have said, we'll be held accountable for before the great Judge. We don't know when that day will come, for no one knows the hour. Nor do we know when God will take us out of this temporary dwelling place. What we do have is right now, and right now counts forever. We have right now to show love and compassion, share the truth, and help others see that we are all, indeed, precious, being made in the likeness of God's image—and image bearers have no place in a dumpster, or severed on an operating table, just because they're deemed "inconvenient."

Let's pray. Pray that more babies will be saved and fewer will suffer. Pray that God opens the hearts and minds of those committing these heinous acts—whether in ignorance or not. Pray that states and legislatures do more to not only protect mothers and the unborn, but that they will also help people be more aware of their safe haven laws. Pray that people who choose not to parent will utilize those laws. And, as Szoch concluded, "Let us pray for the day when both American culture and the American legal system recognize this reality"—the reality that life is sacred and worth defending. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.