Abortion v. Adoption: The Adoption Paradox

 

A new article in the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy entitled, "Informing Choice: The Role of Adoption in Women's Pregnancy Decision-Making," describes the "adoption paradox," i.e., the reality that adoption is a widely admired but rarely chosen institution. By a ratio of 50:1, women choose to terminate a pregnancy over placing a child for adoption. Accordingly, many scholars (and the dissenting justices in Dobbs) question adoption's relevance in abortion policy specifically and in family policy more generally.

 

To investigate this tension, the authors examine never before-published survey data and analysis from the largest study on birth mothers’ decision-making and coercion experiences and aggregate and analyze existing social science studies of pregnancy decision-making regarding adoption. They found a prevalent stigma against the choice of adoption in women's pregnancy decision-making explained by many factors, such as feared emotional distress, social pressures to parent, and concern for the child’s safety. Adoption’s disfavor is amplified when legalized abortion is readily available, and decision-making often takes place in a situation of insufficient information or misunderstanding, for example, prevalent confusion between private domestic adoption and the foster care system. They also found that women who experience the highest satisfaction with adoption placement are those who were able to make a voluntary, fully informed decision.

Based on this data, the researchers recommend law and policy reforms to promote informed decision-making and education about adoption. The article includes the most comprehensive fifty-state survey of abortion-specific informed consent laws and, in light of these findings about the factors that most influence women’s decision-making, the researchers argue that major reform is needed.

This practical article can be useful to any individual in their decision-making process, or any state legislator seeking to promote adoption, or to anyone seeking to strengthen or defend state informed consent laws. Adoption is truly a better choice than abortion.