November is National Adoption Awareness month. The annual event, started by President Ronald Reagan, focuses on finding adoptive families for children in foster care. Finding forever homes for children who have been in the foster care system is life changing—for the children and for the families who experience the love of a child. Offering a home to children and teens in need is an incredible Pro-Life witness that we at Texas Right to Life have the privilege of seeing time and again.
When we asked our readers if they would hypothetically adopt a child to save him from abortion, the response was overwhelming. Of course, agreeing to adopt a hypothetical child is easy; that’s not what got our attention. The number of committed Pro-Lifers who have adopted children, fostered children, or been adopted themselves is amazing.
In response to the question, “Would you ever consider adopting a child who may otherwise be aborted?” one Texas Right to Life follower, Laurie, shared her touching story and her blog. On her blog, “Adoption Creates Families,” Laurie shares about her family’s journey to adopting five children. They fostered many children along the way, struggled with fear and uncertainty, adopted toddlers, two newborns, and a teenage son.
Texas families like Laurie’s are the Pro-Life heart of our state. This November as we raise awareness for the children in foster care who need forever homes, we also express our gratitude for the tremendous sacrifices adoptive families make to bring their children home.
Texas Right to Life has long advocated for ways to promote the loving choice of adoption. We have worked with legislators to make the adoption process less lengthy and less expensive, so that families who are waiting to grow their families through adoption will not have such a difficult journey. Texas Right to Life also fights tirelessly to expand funding to the Alternatives to Abortion program, which assists mothers in crisis pregnancies across the state. One of our legislative priorities in the upcoming session is to ensure that more funding is allocated to the lifesaving work of pregnancy resource centers, adoption agencies, and maternity homes in our state.
The abortion industry continues to spread the lie that every child must be “wanted” in order to have the Right to Life. With the lengthy waiting list of adoptive parents growing ever longer, the truth is resoundingly clear: every child is a gift. The preborn and children in foster care deserve our respect and our love, not the message that they were “unwanted.” We don’t have to embrace the abortion lie that every child must be a wanted child. We need to recognize that every child is a wanted child, even if some are still looking for their forever home.
How has your life been impacted by adoption? Would you ever consider adopting?