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TechnoratiOne matter that should be of significant concern for the pro-life movement is that young women facing crisis pregnancies often have false ideas about adoption. A study commissioned by Family Research Council several years ago, entitled The Missing Piece: Adoption Counseling in Pregnancy Resource Centers, did a magnificent job of shedding light on the painful assumptions that many women have when it comes to adoption. Women in crisis pregnancies tend to think of adoption as an abandonment of their child. They are often convinced that no other family can love their child as much as they do. They have heard horror stories about children mistreated by adoptive parents, and they assume that to place a child for adoption is to simply give the child away without any control over where he or she is placed. Many women do not think they are strong enough to "give away" their children, that it is too great of a sacrifice, and that abortion is actually easier than adoption. The Missing Piece also found, however, that more emotionally mature women were usually in a better position to seriously consider the option of adoption. They were able to see that by choosing adoption they were putting their child's needs over their own.
Women facing crisis pregnancies need to know that, today, placing their child for adoption is not simply handing the baby over without any knowledge of how he or she will be raised. The modern adoption process frequently gives pregnant women an opportunity to be a big part of the process. These days, mothers are often afforded the opportunity to help choose the type of family in which their child will be placed. And many women who choose adoption are often allowed to maintain an element of continuing involvement that helps them know that they are not in any way abandoning their baby.
Sadly, we do not spend enough time celebrating women who make such a mature and strong choice in favor of life. Needless to say, thousands of lives across America attest to the success of adoption. It is one thing to demand a right to choose; it is another thing to choose well. Here's to the mothers who have chosen life and shared that life with others!
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Ken Connor is Chairman of the Center for a Just Society in Washington, DC and a nationally recognized trial lawyer who represented Governor Jeb Bush in the Terri Schiavo case. Connor was formally President of the Family Research Council, Chairman of the Board of CareNet, and Vice Chairman of Americans United for Life. For more articles and resources from Mr. Connor and the Center for a Just Society, go to www.ajustsociety.org. Your feedback is welcome; please email info@ajustsociety.org
