Recently, New York passed laws that changed how late-term abortions were handled. It sent many people in an uproar over the right to life, even though late-term abortions are often performed because the baby is missing parts of its brain or missing vital organs that would allow it to live a full and normal life. These laws also expand upon late-term abortion when the mothers did not realize that the sexual assaults they endured resulted in unwanted pregnancies until they were too far along. So, how would laws like this have an impact, if any, on adoption? Well, it might look something like this.
There Are Fewer Babies to Adopt
Sometimes people are so desperate to have a child that they are willing to take in special needs infants. Whether those children live a few years or live their entire lives makes little difference to these couples. They want to have a child, and they are more than willing to care for it, in spite of its special needs. As for healthy babies that are the product of rape, one could argue that it is unfair to make a woman have a child she did not conceive out of an act of love, but out of a sexual assault.
While that is certainly true, allowing a baby that is full-term and healthy to be "eliminated" because of the circumstances of its existence is something a lot of would-be adoptive parents are up in arms over. To them, that is a child they could have adopted for their very own. There will more than likely be far fewer children to adopt if this law is made universal in all fifty states.
Adoption Agencies Will Have to Turn to Foreign Orphanages
Foreign infant adoption is almost two to four times as expensive as adopting a baby born in the U.S. Yet, with the number of healthy babies and babies with minor disabilities having their lives ended as a late-term abortion, that is exactly what adoption agencies are going to have to do. Couples looking to adopt will have to accept adopting foreign children as their main adoption option.
Help With Adoption
Help with adoption will decrease significantly because there will be even fewer American babies born that can be adopted. If you are pregnant, and your OB/GYN says your baby will be born with a challenging developmental problem, or you simply decide that you do not want to keep your rapist's healthy baby, consider talking with an adoption counselor. There are thousands of couples out there that would be heartbroken to hear that you had an unwanted child and did not consider a closed adoption first.
For more information and help with adoption, contact your local family counselor.