DES MOINES – The case of an Iowa teenager accused of killing her newborn baby in Florida is reviving the debate over Iowa’s safe-haven law and whether it should be advertised.

Ashley Truitt, 18, of Solon, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder for allegedly killing her baby while on family vacation in Pompano Beach, Fla.

Broward County sheriff’s deputies said Truitt gave birth in a bathroom on the seventh floor of Wyndham Resort at 4:30 a.m. Saturday and then dumped the baby down a garbage chute. Truitt was arrested Monday.

It is unclear if Truitt was aware Iowa and Florida have laws allowing babies to be left at health care facilities – no questions asked.

Iowa’s safe-haven law was passed in 2001.

Roger Munns, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Human Services, said not enough people know about the law because there’s no money to publicize it.

“No advertising dollars are designated toward the law, limiting its spread to word-of-mouth, our Web site and interviews like this,” Munns said.

Since 2001, eight Iowa babies have been left at safe havens and successfully placed with adoptive families.

“The whole idea is to keep that child alive. If you can’t find a hospital, take it to a fire station. Do whatever you have to do,” Munns said.

According to the agency, at least four babies have died in Iowa after being unsafely abandoned since the safe-have law was passed.

Florida has had 71 babies turned over since its law was enacted in 2000. The state also spends $500,000 a year on TV messages.