Advocates against abortion primarily base their arguments on a very shaky and immature foundation. They argue that the baby will surely be adopted. That it is a win-win situation both for both the biological mother and the family that adopts the child. A blindfolded approach to the problem, say those who favor abortion. It does not take into account the opinion of the child who is put up in foster homes waiting like lambs to the slaughter.
A Child Is Not For Redistribution
The anti-abortion lobby holds the view that saving the baby is not good enough. The saved baby put up in foster homes has to be re-distributed into the right kind of environment. But adoption is not an alternative to abortion. The issue is more complex. The process of childbirth is not just a biological one. The physical complexity is the obvious one. The mother in question is usually a teenager, her body biologically not yet capable of bearing a child. But the emotional toll of bearing a child and then giving it up for adoption is traumatic for the mother. The complex process of adoption is itself not immune to the possibilities of doing more harm than good to the child. The biggest flaw is that the child has no say in the process. The whole process is unsound and untenable.
The Feeling Of Rootlessness
Nothing can come closer to the truth than the account of a child who has been through the traumatic process of growing up in the rootless environment of foster care. Instead of a family, the child usually gets a ‘system’, a succession of institutions that serve as warehouses rather than foster homes. The emotional succor that a child so desperately needs is missing from its life from day one.
One Bruised Swallow Definitely Does Not Make A Summer
Olivia Paige is a child of this brutal system and has witnessed firsthand how this system has failed the one person that it claims to protect, the child. But luckily she is one of the extremely rare exceptions who have managed to beat the system and stayed afloat. She has put forward her experience on Facebook and questioned the assertion that “an adoption is always an option.”
Number Don’t Lie
Her stark account, the numbers she puts out, all point out to the lie that is the adoption system. Of the 400,000 children put up in foster homes, only about a quarter is in line to be adopted. And only a half of these, around 50,000 are put up for adoption each year. A ban on abortion will see a dramatic surge in the number. A fifth of the teens who grow out of foster homes find themselves literally on the road, without the education and skill necessary to survive in the open world. 25% of these children are traumatized and half of them will turn to drugs as a way out. A few, like Olivia, just about manage to stay afloat. It was not an easy journey even for her but she found “just enough love and support to make it out alright.”
The Tears Behind The Smile
The photo she has attached was handed out to adoption homes over her teenage years. But she was not adopted. Olivia spent ten years in numerous foster homes with complete strangers. She would be moved at short notice by social workers without her consent. She always dreaded a new place. While she was usually lucky to get good foster homes, at two places she was sexually and physically assaulted. By 18, she had moved innumerable times.
She was 11 when she was hospitalized for malnutrition and assault. But she lied about the blow she suffered to her head. She had learned at a very early age that only the dumb survived in such places. She recounts the tale of a foster parent who took in 5 special needs children and misused the generous money the government gave in such cases. Olivia has faced such situations on numerous occasions. She spent her childhood and half of her teen years feeling rejected and dreading her next travail.
Paige was free of the system at 16 and did well but she is among a rare handful. She feels that she was a lucky exception and strongly feels that adoption is never the “solution” to abortion. Just giving birth to a child does not save it. Its tribulation has just begun. It is a life under the forced care of uncaring social workers and foster parents.
Beyond Hopes And Prayers
The hopelessness of the system is so much that some children conceded that they wish they were not born in the first place. The silent cry of such children needs a voice and action that goes beyond just “hopes and prayers.” The need of the hour is to take care of those who are unfortunate to have to live their lives without anybody holding their hands, not to put more children into the world through abortion laws.
