What about the other "A"
Katie Moran
Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: Columns
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You're standing in the bathroom with your partner, both in your pajamas and bunny slippers, staring at a little white stick still glistening with urine. Bad news. Or good news at a bad time. Whatever the reason, neither of you are ready for this. As you try to figure out what to do, each confidant you tell reminds you of the life-or-death decision you now face: "What are you going to do? Are you going to keep it, or get an abortion?" What do you do? Life or death, life or death, life or death?
This scenario is not uncommon and all too real. In 2001, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that nearly half of all pregnancies were unintended. The Centers for Disease Control reported approximately 860,000 abortions in the year 2000, and that was only counting the legal ones. Unintended pregnancies and abortions don't just happen to the teenage hussies; rather, abortions are occurring all over the world in almost every age group. It's not so hush-hush anymore.
Everybody everywhere has strong opinions about abortion. It is a gigantic time bomb containing one of the most controversial issues; are we getting away with murder? Unfortunately, there is no easy way to diffuse this bomb. Nobody is against women being able to control their own bodies, and nobody is for killing potential babies.
So, how can we cut down on the number of abortions without forcing women or couples to raise unexpected children against their will? The other A: Adoption.
Abortions occur nearly ten times as much as adoptions do. But why does abortion dominate over adoption as an alternative method for unintended pregnancy?
One reason for this is that in some ways, America is still stuck in the morality of our Puritan forbearers. The bond of motherhood is sacred, and many surprised mothers-to-be may be unwilling to consider arranging an adoption because they are afraid of being perceived as unnatural women with no maternal feelings. Couples trying to adopt a child face similar stigmas surrounding impotency, infertility, and congenital diseases.
This scenario is not uncommon and all too real. In 2001, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that nearly half of all pregnancies were unintended. The Centers for Disease Control reported approximately 860,000 abortions in the year 2000, and that was only counting the legal ones. Unintended pregnancies and abortions don't just happen to the teenage hussies; rather, abortions are occurring all over the world in almost every age group. It's not so hush-hush anymore.
Everybody everywhere has strong opinions about abortion. It is a gigantic time bomb containing one of the most controversial issues; are we getting away with murder? Unfortunately, there is no easy way to diffuse this bomb. Nobody is against women being able to control their own bodies, and nobody is for killing potential babies.
So, how can we cut down on the number of abortions without forcing women or couples to raise unexpected children against their will? The other A: Adoption.
Abortions occur nearly ten times as much as adoptions do. But why does abortion dominate over adoption as an alternative method for unintended pregnancy?
One reason for this is that in some ways, America is still stuck in the morality of our Puritan forbearers. The bond of motherhood is sacred, and many surprised mothers-to-be may be unwilling to consider arranging an adoption because they are afraid of being perceived as unnatural women with no maternal feelings. Couples trying to adopt a child face similar stigmas surrounding impotency, infertility, and congenital diseases.
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