Monday, June 21, 2010

Abortion advocates supporting adoption?

HT: Jill Stanek

A New York Times piece, "Campaigning for Common Ground in Abortion Debate", starts by asking, "What if groups that demanded reproductive choices for women actually offered them?"

Indeed!

The idea is simple. It is about choice. Not choice as a euphemism for the right to have an abortion, but choice in the true sense of the word: options, informed consent and support for women trying to figure out what to do with an unwanted pregnancy.


Note that this is new. This is a radical idea, a departure from the status-quo. It is, as the article states, "meteor-strike rare".

But it's a start. Maybe there will arise a third wave, a true pro CHOICE movement that's not all about choosing just abortion.

8 comments:

L. said...

Is this really new? I personaly don't know any pro-choice people who are opposed to adoption (or single motherhood). In fact, I know a few who fervently believe abortion should be legal, but who put their own babies up for adoption, or raised them as single moms.

Cecilia said...

But L, I bet those women who put their babies up for adoption or chose single motherhood had to figtht off a lot of social pressure to have abortions. They were obviously very strong to fight off the pressure, or they silenced the pressure by keeping the pregnancy secret.
This has to be done in a lot of cases, because too many so called pro-choice people aren't really pro-choice. They're just for abortion, and that's the only choice they want women to make.

Rupert said...

The overall tone from a number of people here that pro-choice really only means 'only an abortion will do' is fallacious and disingenuous. The overwhelming majority see abortion as the last resort.

I note in the article that it's not abortion clinics that kept adoption at bay - '...she knew of no adoption agency that would speak to women with an open mind about abortion.'

So as pro-choice centers suffer less harassment and threats, they may actually be able to deal with providing a wider range of options.

A true pro-CHOICE movement is all about the availability of ALL options, not just those dictated by people who live THEIR lives according to some imaginary sky friend.

L. said...

Actually, Cecilia, some of them were Catholic Latinas -- a culture that frowns on abortion and venerates motherhood.

I do know a few people who call themselves "pro-choice" but think that abortion is the BEST choice, in a crisis pregnancy. But the majority of pro-choice people I know think it should be up the woman -- and the idea of a woman being coerced into an abortion is just as wrong as a woman being coerced into carrying to term against her will.

I think that if there is ever to be "real choice," a lot of conservative churches (my own very much included) need to get over stigmatizing unwed motherhood. Just because a situation isn't ideal doesn't mean it's shameful.

OperationCounterstrike said...

Go for it! I support everything that makes adoption easier. BUT the fact is, most women who go in requesting abortions already know they want to abort, not to adopt.

This idea that women seek abortions without being sure they want them is a pretty fairy tale but that's all.

Christina Dunigan said...

Prochoice PEOPLE often really are about CHOICE. They'd prefer that women choose life and are quite enthusiastic about making other resources available to them.

But the prochoice LOBBY, and the ORGANIZATIONS, are about abortion. Period. When they say "reproductive rights" they mean "contraception and abortion". When they say "reproductive health care" they mean "contraception, abortion, and yeah, STD screenings and treatments". But they don't include prenatal care and obstetric care. And frankly, a lot of that is because of where their clout and money come from.

I've been agitating for years for the truly proCHOICE to band together and pull support away from the abortion lobby. This development gives me hope that this is starting to happen.

Lilliput said...

Why can't you hve independant pregnancy councellors not linked to anybody who can help women come to their own decision. What worries me about this adoption choice is that they won't give them all the consequences involved after they relinquish their children. I think the outcomes for moms that choose adoption can be quite severe but everybody glosses over it in their wish to provide a baby for a childless couple. Also we don't want to add to the corrupt billion dollar adoption industry.

I thin independent councellors are the way to go and then pregnant women can go to abortion clinics, adoption agencies or lamaze classes once they have made up their own minds.

Christina Dunigan said...

Lil, I think the informed consent for adoption also needs to include talking to some birth mothers, both those who have regretted making an adoption plan and those who are at peace with the decision. And these would have to be moms who had chosen a similar type of adoption plan.