I recently attended the Christians Alliance for Orphans conference in Nashville and was asked by another attendee what adoption and foster care have to do with my work in the pro-life movement. My short answer to her? “Everything.”
Our mission at Americans United for Life is to advance the human right to life in culture, law, and policy. While some may read that and view our efforts as simply working to end abortion through passing laws and meeting with elected officials, there is so much more to it than that. Our work is intended to meet women where they are so that abortion is unthinkable.
Often, a woman finds herself with an unplanned child growing in her womb, overwhelmed, and uncertain how she will be able to care for her child. Women report this is frequently due to several factors, including coercion by a boyfriend or husband to abort her preborn child, a lack of financial resources, conflicts with educational plans, disruption in career plans, or an abusive environment.
Adoption is a loving alternative to abortion and a choice that is worthy of praise for both the mother and her unborn child. A mother who chooses adoption acknowledges the humanity of her child and recognizes that someone else may be in a better position to provide the needed care for her child at that time.
Adoption experts tell us there are one to two million couples waiting to adopt a child, many who are unable to conceive children on their own. Adoption can be a lengthy but rewarding process. What it does with certainty is give the child a place they can call home and a family who invest themselves in the child’s life and wellbeing. It may lead to other rewarding relationships such as a long-term bond between the birth mother and adoptive parents.
The foster care system is also full of children in need of compassionate care. The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) estimated in their 2022 fiscal year report that there are 369,000 children ranging in age from newborn babies through teenagers in foster care. While the goal of foster care is reunification between a child and parents, this is not always possible.
The pro-life movement does not stop at the moment of delivery. It comes alongside a woman to support and walk her through the difficult decisions she makes surrounding her unborn child. It recognizes the dignity and rights of every human being and fights for the protection of all mankind. And it includes the selfless act of loving care for children in need of a home.
While God may not call each of us to adopt or foster children, we all have a role to play in wrapping our arms around both mothers and children. For me, this has included advocating for the Heartbeat bill at the federal and state levels, working as a director at a maternity home, serving on a Virginia pregnancy center’s board of directors, and caring for individuals with both physical and mental disabilities.
For you, this could mean donating financially to an adoption agency or a family who is going through an adoption process, providing physical resources for friends who are fostering a child, praying for children to find loving homes, or supporting the advocacy of organizations like AUL.
As the late author and United States Senate Chaplain Edward Everett Hale wrote, “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
