Thursday, January 28, 2010
Adoption & Abortion
According to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned pregnancy, the number of unplanned pregnancies among teens in the US is more than a half million annually. One in eight women, ages 15 to 19, becomes pregnant and almost half of teen pregnancies end in abortion. Ninety percent of teens who actually give birth decide to keep their babies; few place their babies for adoption.
Relinquishing an infant for adoption is seldom considered a viable option for women in unplanned pregnancies. Only about two percent of infants born to single mothers are relinquished for adoption, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, compared to about twenty percent in the 1970's. The most recent study indicates that nearly one million women were seeking to adopt children in 2002, while fewer than 54,000 infants were available for adoption in the U.S.
Why do so few women in the midst of an unplanned pregnancy choose to relinquish their infants for adoption? Paul Swope, of the Caring Foundation, suggests that unplanned motherhood represents a threat so great to modern women that it is perceived as equivalent to a 'death of self.'. Basically a woman desperately wants a sense of resolution to her crisis, and in her mind, adoption leaves the situation the most unresolved, with uncertainty and guilt as far as she can see for both herself and her child.
Beyond the shock of pregnancy, there are other factors that contribute to the intensity of a woman's emotional state while she is choosing a course of action relating to an unplanned pregnancy. According to this study, women who had strong doubts felt powerless during the decision making process and those who were most distressed, felt pressured by their partners, friends, and parents to choose one particular action. In a qualitative study conducted on unmarried pregnant adolescents and their significant others, several overriding factors influenced their decision not to relinquish. The general societal sanction against relinquishment, coupled with low levels of knowledge and the absence of professional interventions confirms existing adolescent beliefs that severe, intolerable, and ongoing psychological distress would accompany adoption.
Survival mode is not a prudent filter through which to make one of life's most important decisions for the very first time. But if young women could be presented with all of the facts and given the opportunity to consider adoption prior to becoming sexually active then they might be better prepared to make a more life affirming choice.
Cindy Booth
