Advocate urges empathy after Quebec woman allegedly abandons newborn outside in cold

The director of a Quebec homeless shelter is urging empathy after a 38-year-old unhoused woman was charged for allegedly abandoning her newborn outside in the cold shortly after giving birth on the street on New Year’s Day.The woman, who can’t be named because of a publication ban protecting the infant, was scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday in Trois-Rivières, Que., about 125 kilometres northeast of Montreal. She has been charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life to her baby, who survived.Trois-Rivières police spokesperson Stéphanie Côté says police received a call shortly after 3 p.m. on Jan. 1 regarding a woman who had given birth on a downtown street. Officers arrived at the scene and found the baby, who was being cared for by passersby who stopped to help, Côté said.