Too few people know about California's Safely Surrendered Baby law. That's apparent from the death of a newborn at a sorority house at California State University, Chico.

A 20-year-old student who gave birth could have turned the newborn over to any California hospital, no questions asked. Instead, she faces prosecution for murder.

Apparently, she went through the pregnancy without telling anyone. She went through labor and delivery by herself. Authorities only found out about the event when she went to the Immediate Care Medical Center in Chico, which alerted police they had treated a woman who appeared to have given birth. Police found the newborn dead in a plastic bag in her bedroom. Police said she admitted the infant had been born alive. Health officials said she may not have known about the law.

In California, 47 newborns have been safely surrendered since the law took effect Jan. 1, 2001. But 115 were illegally abandoned in the same period, including 24 found dead - often in a trash bin or at a recycling plant. The numbers found dead may actually be higher, says the Department of Social Services, because of reporting inconsistencies at county coroners' offices.

More newborns still are being abandoned than being safely surrendered. A $1.5 million statewide public awareness campaign has helped. But California's a big state in the midst of a budget crisis. This is a case where local communities will have to find low-cost or no-cost ways to get the word out.

In Sacramento County, for example, Sacramento Crisis Nursery has donated a 24-hour hot line - staffed by a live person, not voice mail. But that won't help if women do not know that the hotline - and the law - exist. Doctors, schools, high school and college newspapers, recreation centers, movie theaters and others need to do their part to spread the word. For women determined to conceal their pregnancies from family and friends, it's better to have a newborn delivered to a hospital than to the county coroner and a cemetery plot.