"I don't hear very much talk from either side about adoption. If my daughter were to become pregnant but felt she couldn't be the mother the child needs I would absolutely support her giving the child up for adoption."
Well, I think my argument has been more about the court ruling. I don't really think I have any solutions or easy answers to offer about how to deal with pregnant teens. I should tell you, so that you don't think that I'm only about giving you a hard time, that I admire your take on this issue and find it a noble cause that you support. I have know doubt that you're a good man Kevin and you intentions are all for the best. That comes across pretty clearly in all that you say. I respect your views and you as a person.
If I seem harsh at times (bringing up your take on the war in Iraq below) I only do it to provoke thought, not anger, and only to continue the debate. Not to try and give you a hard time. While Pat and possibly you as well, claim not to understand my thought process, I feel I do understand where you're coming from. I'm not always going to agree, same as you won't agree with me, but that doesn't mean I don't understand.
"I think you mentioned something in your post about a young mother letting go of a child she brought into the world. I'm sure there are many emotional issues which go along with the decision to give a child up for adoption but in my mind everyone of those difficult emotional filled feelings trumps the anguish and guilt associated with an abortion."
Well, thankfully and quite perfectly Kathryn addressed this issue from the standpoint of someone who truly understands it. I don't think I could offer better insight into that situation than she has. She's got a perspective that I would say matters more than mine. I will say this though, if it comes down to a young woman having to choose between aborting an unwanted pregnancy or having the baby then putting it up for adoption, I am overwhelmingly for the first option.
The reason for this is simple. We already have far too many unwanted, forgotten, and uncared for children in the world. From my perspective we'd be better served focusing our efforts on finding ways to care for them. I find it far more heartbreaking that there are children starving, children being abused, abandoned, neglected, in alarming numbers. These are the little ones we need to help. They are here with us right now. They are not being adopted, they have been forgotten. Our world is sad and hard and really it is so often a triage type situation. I say, help the ones that are here with us now, save them. Get them adopted. This needs to be done before we bring anymore children into the world. Unwanted children at that. There are too many already. Sure, it's a nice thought to save unborn babies, but with so many that are already here that need our help, and the world what it is...the unborn and unwanted right now are better off not entering the fray.
Sure, you could argue there may be some happy endings to these babies being born and given up to adoption. But how many, and what of the ones already born that don't have a home and someone to love them? It's sad that I have to state this Kevin but the pro life argument seems way off the mark. I wish it were not true. I wish you were right but it's just not our world.
"To compound the despair of an unwanted pregnancy with the guilt of an abortion is a lot for any person to handle. Imagine the healing which could come from knowing that the child you brought into the world is providing so much love and getting so much love in return from a family in need."
Again Kathryn adressed this far better than I ever could. She knows from personal experiance. I'd love to see what you envision happen Kevin but we're not anywhere close to a situation where we could do that in this world. If you and me and Dale and Pat and everyone on this board went out right now and adopted 50 unwanted children each, 100 each even, we couldn't even put a dent in the problem. It great to have good intentions, I think a hell of a lot of you for what you believe and what you'd like to do...but it's a dream we're nowhere near able to make come true. What's the point in making one mother have her child and give it up for adoption when 1000 unwanted children die the same day in shithole places all over the planet? Would you have been better served just saving one of them than bringing another into the world? The questions on abortion and unwanted children are brutal to face and there are no easy answers.
On the Iraq thing that I brought up below, I only did that because I always find it strange that people can say they are "Pro Life" at one point and then find it necessary to bomb a country into the stone age the next instant. I just always thought if you're "Pro Life" in means in every sense. It's funny that "pacifist" is used to slander someone and has a negitive connotation to someone on the conservative right, but "Pro Life" is thought to be a positive term by some of the same people. Word games, and if you don't support the idea consistantly, really the term is slandered by hypocrisy. Just a thought.
Respectfully,
Reg
