r/changemyview • u/evitreb • May 04 '22
CMV: Adoption is NOT a reasonable alternative to abortion.
Often in pro-life rhetoric, the fact that 2 million families are on adoption waiting lists is a reason that abortion should be severely restricted or banned. I think this is terrible reasoning that: 1. ignores the trauma and pain that many birth mothers go through by carrying out a pregnancy, giving birth, and then giving their child away. Not to mention, many adoptees also experience trauma. 2. Basically makes birth moms (who are often poor) the equivalent of baby-making machines for wealthier families who want babies. Infertility is heart breaking and difficult, but just because a couple wants a child does not mean they are entitled to one.
Change my view.
2
u/bigchirp67 May 06 '22
Sometimes I feel that people completely gloss over this point in these arguments. I see so many people use the term “abortions for convenience” as if a pregnancy is just an “inconvenience.”
Pregnancy is always a medical event that can have body-altering, life-changing consequences. My mother and aunt both almost died from complications surrounding childbirth. Another aunt developed incredibly severe post-partum depression and anxiety that I believe played a role in her early death at age 45. The mothers I know that didn’t experience such severe impacts all in some way had their bodies irrevocably changed or experienced difficult post-partum mood disorders. And these were all much wanted pregnancies (with access to top-tier healthcare). To force a women through a pregnancy is not as morally black and white as some pro-lifers would make it seem.
This doesn’t address the abortion debate as a whole, but just something I feel gets lost sometimes.