I went on a run... and skipped class....

and was thinking about adoption and how odd it is that so many people will get so worked up over the “pro-life” movement while leaving countless children without parents, hoping to get adopted. I mean, if this movement is so pro-life, why is there so much life not cared for in our world? To me it seems that the life which already exists is just as much, if not more valuable than the unborn, especially at the embryonic stage. It isn’t that I have something against pro-lifers, it is just that I believe the argument is hinged upon the wrong issue.

All too often it comes down to legislature, attempting to convince the courts to bend the will of the other to one’s own. Further, it seems that many pro-lifers don’t really think of the consequences if abortion was illegal, namely the huge influx of children into the foster system. The system is already strained almost to the breaking point, with children getting trapped within the beast of bureaucracy.

So now what, abortion is illegal, life is born, and life is left without care.

Some may argue that the people would step up, save those who are left in the system. But this is hardly the case today, with thousands of children left without families. Further, when the budget gets tight it is the social services for such marginalized populations that get cut first. I wouldn’t want to birth my child into such an environment, is it that much of a surprise that abortion continues to be viable alternative?

Many argue that it is a woman’s choice to be protected; others argue that one should choose life. I believe it is hardly a choice at all. The notion of free will is so overblown at times. Circumstances always constrict our options, hardly presenting the freedom of choice which we ideologically create in these political debates. Many times abortion presents itself as the best possibility for the health of the child, to prevent the certain abuse and neglect.

Yet, what if we created an environment which countered this, one which presented a viable option of possibility for the child. What if there was certainty that the child could be brought into the world with the hope of being loved and cared for? What if there were so many people waiting to adopt that it was certain that the child would be given an immediate loving home? It seems to me that it would make life a much more persuasive argument.

I don’t think the majority of individuals choose to abort. The majority are frequently forced to abort as a result of constricted cultural context. Whether that be abuse, rape, or the view that neglect and abandonment are all but certain in their current circumstances. Abortion becomes the best of the options. Rather than making laws without changing the system, we need to change the system and make the laws irrelevant. If we were able to create a system which so favored adoption we would deter abortions to much greater extent than by any legislative means. Yet, this would require us to do something rather than just say something.

So pro-lifers, start changing the system. Go adopt. If you find yourself in a position unable to adopt, then find another way to care for these abandoned children. If not, stop calling your movement pro-life, because there doesn’t seem to be much pro-life when we leave behind the life that already exists.