To return to the anti-adoption issue for a moment, here is a statistic from an article from Carol's own website:
"Children growing up in a single-parent home face a double-negative effect in their lives: living both in poverty and with only one parent. Poor children are more likely to be too short and too thin for their age. Also, they develop academic skills more slowly than nonpoor children and are at greater risk of being educationally disadvantaged."
Now, since it's my guess that it's not the older, educated, employed, intentional single mothers who we're talking about here, it's probably the young uneducated ones who find themselves pregnant and (foolishly IMO) decide to keep their babies, who are then raising them in poverty. Someone tell me how this is possibly in the best interest of the children?! Bullshit! I think it's nothing but selfish pettiness that would cause a woman in such circumstances to keep her baby... Not when there are thousands of terrific, prepared, ethusiastic would-be parents and families out there who would give it a great childhood—while the mother gets herself and her life together!

Myself, I'm no longer very young (30 is feeling dangerously close!!), and I am educated, but not only would I do everything possible (condoms, emergency contraception, abortion) to not end up with a full-term pregnancy in the first place, but I wouldn't hesitate a moment to give a baby up for adoption. Now, I'd damn well find the absolute best family I could, probably some nice lesbians or gay men (can be damn sure no fundies would get my baby!), but there's no way in hell I could parent a child at this time in my life, and I know it perfectly well. It's only common sense. It doesn't take a rocket scientist...

Raising a child is by far the most important endeavor upon which one can ever embark. A child should always be planned, meticulously planned, impeccably well thought-through. Prospective parents should have to write a 100-page essay on every aspect of parenthood and why they want to be a parent and what they think about this and what they will do in case of that—it's not to say that they wouldn't change their minds or go with something different in the future, but by gods people should think about things before doing them, and there's nothing more important than caring for and nurturing a little human being! That's why I think adoptive parents are often the best kind, because they're so deliberate about what they're doing: they very consciously and deliberately want to raise a child. So whatever else they may have going on or not, they've got the most important fundamental covered. Any idiots can do a little horizontal mumbo and shit!, the woman ends up pregnant, and there you have it, instant parents, ready or not. Sometimes they rise to the challenge and everything works out great, but often it's not the case. Sure there are plenty of other factors, but I just think that if every child were a planned child and every parent an intentional one, it would constitute a significant improvement in our society.

4:52:35 AM    comment []