Adoption, Abortion, and Elections

It's been a long time since I've blogged!  I guess I got out of the habit of writing something every week and perhaps had exhausted my range of topics.  The topic I am going to discuss today is going to be controversial, but I think it bears some thought, especially as to how it relates to adoption.  I hate politics, although I'm glued to the national conventions as if they were train wrecks...oh, they are!  Are we better off than we were four years ago?  I haven't met anyone who thinks so.  How has the past four years affected adoption?  President Obama is pro-abortion.  The number of abortions is way up.  That is one part of the equation.  Then there is the economy.  Women who previously would have tried to parent and then eventually decided on adoption as a better option are figuring out very early in the pregnancy that they won't be able to parent due to financial constraints.  It's so early that they can justify making a decision for abortion and they are, thus, aborting (in record numbers). Fewer babies, lower birth rate, higher abortions...well that all equates to less babies for adoption.

I know there are many women who don't want their abortion "rights" taken away.  Mitt Romney is pro-life and so is Paul Ryan.  That doesn't mean they will even be able to change the law, as congress has a say.  Just because they get elected doesn't mean that abortions will cease to exist in this country.  I'm not sure that will ever happen.  But it would be nice to limit them and it would be beneficial to women to understand better what is happening when a baby is aborted.  Planned Parenthood would call it "products of conception" or "pregnancy tissue".  They don't call it "pregnancy tissue" when it pops out screaming and wiggling.  "Products of conception" ARE babies.

I am not condemning women who choose abortion.  I think only God can do that.  However, I praise women who have the courage to deliver a baby that wasn't planned and place it in the arms of another woman who may have fertility issues.  That is a gift few people can give -- the gift of life.  I think that's a much more healthy (physically, emotionally, and medically) way to handle an unplanned pregnancy.  Just because a baby is a surprise doesn't mean the child isn't a blessing.  Please consider all this when you vote in this November's Presidential election.  There are hundreds of thousands of souls counting on you.

Adoptions and Elections - VOTE!

Not only is November National Adoption Month, but it's also the month we elect our next president. No matter who you are voting for, make it a point to go out to the polls if you haven't already mailed in your ballot. We can't complain about our policy makers if we don't vote. For those of us involved in adoption -- either through family ties or emotional ties -- this is a critical vote. There is one pro-"choice" candidate and one pro-life candidate. I've talked about abortion in this blog before and you can go to the archives to see what I have to say about it, but suffice to say that life should come before "choice". I haven't met anyone who would choose to be aborted. I haven't met anyone who was happy about their "choice" to abort. On the contrary, I have spoken with many women who are forever traumatized by their decision. It's one of those decisions you can never take back. Anyone who has had children can look at one of them and understand the ramifications -- it could have been that one. Today's world is different than the world our parents or grandparents grew up in. It's acceptable to be single and pregnant. There is no shame in carrying a child to term, so there is no reason to kill a child to rectify an error in judgment. The child didn't make the error and had no choice at all. So, when you go to the polls tomorrow, think long and hard about how many lives you can save by simply casting your ballot. I don't think it matters whether you are republican or democrat, man or woman, Catholic or Protestant. You can change the world one life at a time. WWJD?