Adoption Incentive Program instead of using Abortion.
Can you imagine how much better our nation would be in trying to stop abortion only if it was for one single day?
This nation gives welfare, food stamps, free healthcare to illegals, why not give money to put the child up for adoption instead of having an abortion?
One would have to qualify for the program to not allow for abuse of the program.
Financial incentives could include cash, skilled trades training for a better career. Give a list options on helping individuals and families.
I do believe we should be encouraging adoption over abortion. The issue however, does not lie in the lack of willing & hopeful adoptive parents. Currently there are 2,000,000+ families with their approved home studies in hand in the matching process for about 18,000 domestic infant adoptions per year.
We need to be supporting expectant moms. Helping them make an informed decision about whether they should parent or if they should place their child for adoption. It should not be a coerced decision, but before any woman is allowed to have an abortion there should be education & counseling that include support & education on the adoption process so that she can make an informed decision.
I don’t think many people know much about the adoption process (source: I am a hopeful adoptive mom in the matching process). I think if women knew what studies say about open adoptions and how they can be as involved as they want with an open adoption, I think they wouldn’t opt for an abortion at the rates we are seeing abortion being done now.
Giving a pregnant woman the exclusive right to choose adoption might help, especially for disabled babies (like Down Syndrome). The law sometimes makes it difficult to circumvent the father’s wishes. If she’s married, she has NO LEGAL RIGHT to choose adoption against her husbands wishes.
Also there should be a federal law protecting her right to regular visitation & phone calls, such that adoptive parents can be fined if they violate those rights. In severe cases, perhaps a police intervention to allow the visits…. In some states, visitation agreements are not enforceable and birth moms get screwed and will never see their child again.
Some adoptive parents just see the woman as their surrogate, like a mule carrying the product they really want. And not all pregnant women realize that they aren’t the customer; the paying adoptive parents are, which is why the rights of birth moms need to be enshrined into law.
While we are on the subject, I think that the government should fund the legal fees for adoptions of disabled babies (like Down Syndrome). This would allow the birth mom more choices to choose from, and give her more confidence in choosing adoption over abortion.
More funding needs to go into adoption and fostering system. This system is significantly broken, and the process to go private is significantly pricy.
If we added more resources and opportunities within the adoption process for expecting mom, this could definitely help to prevent abortions.
Adoption also shouldn’t be based on religion, race or sexual orientation. There should also be better laws and rules in place for open adoption, protecting the birth parents as well as the adoptive parents.
There are so many children in foster care because they make it almost impossible for people to foster to adopt.