I recently interviewed Terri Marcroft, founder of Unplanned Good, a non-profit organization that promotes “adoption as a viable, reasonable option for those dealing with unplanned pregnancies.” She is an adoptive mother herself, and her journey led her to research and uncover some startling statistics about adoption in this country.
In her book, Pro-Choice, Pro-Adoption, she points out that there are approximately 2.8 million unintended pregnancies in the United States each year. The vast majority of those women appear to believe there are only two options available to them: abortion or raising the child herself. Less than 1% of those women choose adoption. In the meantime, there are nearly 2 million families waiting to adopt an infant. There are many more couples waiting to adopt infants than there are babies available for adoption. Why is there such a disparity between the number of unintended pregnancies and the number of adoptions?
There are, of course, several reasons. The first one is the push of abortion. Abortion numbers peaked at about 1.6 million in 1990 and had been going down for years until 2017 when it dipped below 900,000. Since then, abortions have risen again in the United States, and in 2023 Guttmacher estimates those numbers are back again to over 1 million, despite the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Still, even among those children who are not aborted, adoption is rarely chosen, despite being such a beautiful option. While of course adoption is not going to be the best choice for everyone, a quick look of how children adopted by a married couple compare statistically to those raised by a single mom in measurable outcomes such as education levels, poverty and mental health suggests that it ought to be given greater consideration.
A few decades ago, most adoptions were closed. In a closed adoption, the birth mother does not know who adopts her child and has no contact with the adoptive family. She lives the rest of her life never knowing what happened to her child. Beginning in the 1990s, that changed, and today the vast majority (95%) of adoptions today are open. With an open adoption, there is contact between the birthmother and the adoptive family. That contact could be as little as periodic letters, or it could be as much as regular in-person visits, and everything in between. In her book, Terri points out the studies that demonstrate that openness in adoption benefits everyone involved: the birthmother, the child and even the adoptive family. Adoption looks quite different and is much more positive than most people think it is, even for the birthmother. If mothers in crisis pregnancies better understood that, and could have their fears alleviated, perhaps the dire numbers associated with the lack of adoptions would improve.
I invite you to check out my latest interview with Terri Marcroft on my Being Pro Life podcast. You can listen to the podcast on your favorite audio player on your phone, or go directly to this link, or watch the video version here. Look into the stories she makes available on her website Unplanned Good, and become a positive advocate for the beauty of adoption.