November 2019 – Article 2:
November is National Adoption Month.
First conceived as a statewide event in Massachusetts in 1976, this year’s campaign is focused on the thousands of teenagers and young adults in foster care who still need a loving, permanent family and a place to call home.
President Reagan proclaimed it National Adoption Week in 1984, and President Clinton expanded it to a month-long activity in 1995.
This year it highlights “the importance of empowering the voice of young people in conversations about permanency, planning for their future, and the value of relationships”.
The U.S. Children’s Bureau encourages adoption agencies to create new opportunities for older youth and young people to be engaged in their own case planning as a means for preparing them for permanency.
While clearly a cause that pro-life advocates support by praying, being foster parents, and sometimes adopting children, the event ignores a much larger need—encouraging women planning an abortion to opt to carry their children to term and place them for adoption.
Why are so Few Babies Available for Adoption?
An estimated two million couples in the United States are actively trying to adopt a child. They face the harsh reality that there simply are not enough babies to adopt because nearly one million are aborted every year.
The best available data indicate that only four percent of women who experience an unplanned pregnancy decide to place their child available for adoption. They make their wishes more important than honoring the Personhood of their child.
Adoption as an Alternative to Abortion
Why doesn’t the national campaign to empower young people (noted above) promote adoption as a viable alternative to abortion?
The Atlantic magazine recently ran an article spelling out why the majority of women decide on abortion rather than adoption.
In an obvious effort to marginalize pro-life states, the article begins: “Along highways of states where support for abortion is at its lowest, it’s not uncommon to see road signs that say ‘choose adoption’ and similar messages.”
Continuing, it says: “The signs capture a preferred anti-abortion retort to outcries over abortion restrictions, like the kind Georgia and Alabama just passed: women with unwanted pregnancies should find adoptive families.”
While acknowledging that “certain women” do choose adoption, the article quickly turns a lengthy defense of why the majority decide to sacrifice their child.
Leading the list is the misleading claim that “some women would imperil their health if they carried a baby to term.” Laws that allow abortions to protect a woman’s health create a loophole that permits killing a child for basically any reason at all.
Such laws are allowed because of the Supreme Court’s decision in Doe v Bolton redefined health to include all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age.
Exceptions for Abortion used to Justify Abortion
Next on the list is the shocking statement that “many pro-abortion-rights people believe it is immoral to compel a woman to carry a pregnancy she does not want, especially if that pregnancy is a result of rape or incest.
So giving birth to an innocent human being is immoral, but ending that life is okay. How twisted our thinking has become.
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…” (Isaiah 5:20).
Another Falsehood: Abortion is Medically Safer than Childbirth
The next false assertion is that “abortion is medically safer than childbirth.”
Dr. David Reardon, founder of the Elliot Institute, a pro-life advocacy group, debunked research claiming abortion is safer than giving birth conducted by Dr. David Grimes, who is an abortionist. The study was the source of numerous articles across the country.
Reardon labeled Grimes the “chief propagandist for ‘medical proof’ of abortion’s safety…” who used “a very incomplete record of abortion-associated deaths compared to a complete record of deaths associated with non-abortive pregnancies…”
Contrary to the thrust of this article, adoption is biblical and should be encouraged. The ultimate example of Personhood is that the followers of Jesus Christ are lovingly adopted as children of God.
Everyone who values the sanctity of human life is encouraged to share this article with others, especially young people, and pray that God will touch the hearts of women contemplating abortion.
Sources: childwelfare.gov; theatlantic.com; nifla.org.
By Wayne DuBois
Georgia Right to Life
Media Relations Advisor