Sunday, August 28, 2011

It's Planned Parenthood's Fault

What isn't these days, right?  But I'm referencing a blog post at Family Research Council blaming Planned Parenthood for the "decrease in the number of birth moms."  The American Independent does a good job of debunking these frequently-trotted out myths:
A Monday blog entry posted by Family Research Council Action references a media account of how adoption is changing due to technology, but FRCA omits the portion about technology and instead attempts to make the leap that a lack of birth mothers is due to abortion services, and specifically due the presence of Planned Parenthood.

The FRC report, authored by Nick Frase, links to a news report in the Merrillville, Ind.-based Post-Tribune that discusses how the Internet has changed adoptions, but pulls only five paragraphs from an interview with the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Gary in which the charity expressed its hope that a legislative effort to defund Planned Parenthood would have brought more birth mothers.
… However, shortly after the state Legislature adjourned, Planned Parenthood of Indiana successfully sought a preliminary injunction barring much of the law from being enforced. The state is appealing.
“We have not seen an increase [in birth mothers] with that yet,” Kavanaugh said. “Hopefully in the near future we will.” …
The FRC blog includes a section in which the Catholic Charities are described as “one of the largest child placing agencies in northwest Indiana,” but cuts the sentence directly below that states “usually, the not-for-profit has placed 10 babies by now, and averages between 10 and 15 placements a year … This year, they’ve had one as of mid-July.”
And, later in the same news report linked by FRCA, Tina Sanchez-Wright, founder and director of Adoptions and Family Support Network, is interviewed and provides a completely different perspective for what is happening with adoptions in Indiana and throughout the nation.
… “What I’m seeing compared to adoption 10 years ago is I don’t know if there’s been a decrease in birth moms so much as they are finding their own families. They aren’t going through agencies anymore,” Sanchez-Wright said. … Before the Internet, Sanchez-Wright believes more birth moms relied on agencies because they didn’t know where to turn. Now some of her families are receiving calls from moms out of state.
“Adoption is more out in the open. People talk about it and know more about it. They know someone who did it or is adopted,” Sanchez-Wright said. “So people, and with the Internet, they are very savvy about getting the help they need or finding a family. We’re seeing more of that.” …
Frase, writing on behalf of FRC Action, paints a horrible picture of a multitude of families “anxiously” waiting to adopt children. The families, he says, are not only “thwarted by Planned Parenthood,” but to “make matters worse, they’re using their tax dollars to do it.”
In a press release distributed by the Indiana Department of Child Services on Aug. 9, the state agency notes that there are no shortages of children waiting on adoptive parents.
… The [photography] exhibit, called the Heart Gallery, is an initiative of the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS). Its mission is to raise awareness about the approximately 250 Hoosier children currently in foster care still in need of a forever home.
… On any given day, over 400,000 children in America live in foster care due to abuse and neglect. Every year, approximately 30,000 young people leave the foster care system without lifelong families-most at age 18. On their own, these young adults must navigate a weakened economy offering fewer jobs and less support for vital services such as housing. They need and deserve caring adults who love and support them . . .
I've posted before about the false link between abortion and adoption. And the myth goes on. . . .

7 comments:

Lori @ Five of My Own said...

I was shocked to read a post on my China agency's yahoo group today where some were suggesting the reason for the slow down in referrals was US funded abortions in China. Now this.

WTH???

And BTW if increased an abortion rate is the cause of the slow down (AND THERE IS NO WAY IT IS) what is the point? Should women be forced to breed babies... so PAP's don't wait?

The Declassified Adoptee said...

I'm not exaggerating when I say it nauseates me to continually hear various entities refer to pregnant women as breeders for other people. Abortion is a decision about pregnancy. Adoption is a decision about parenting. Does it ever cross their minds that maybe women have abortions because they don't want go to through pregnancy (or can't, for whatever reason) and it having nothing to do with parenting or what these women could or couldn't be supplying to others?

Yuck, yuck, yuck!

Real Daughter said...

I seriously don't know whether to laugh or cry over this. It's just such rubbish and I agree with Amanda.

It reminds me of a priest at a parish I attended years ago. (when I was Catholic) It didn't matter what the occasion was, Christmas, Easter or on any given Sunday, his sermon was always about abortion,Planned Parenthood and the joys of adoption.

My daughters called him "Father Fetus".

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8 don'tcha know?

Anonymous said...

Defunding Planned Parenthood creates more unplanned pregnancies and it makes me angry that people are excited about creating more adoptees and more women who will be harmed by surrendering their child for adoption...and that they call themselves Christians just makes it all that much worse.

Yet it does not suprise me one whit...the signs are all around - strip the poor of all services and you will have more surrenders.

OmegaMom said...

Yeah, this type of commentary always makes me cringe. What, it's a good thing to make women have to have babies so we can pass them on to gooooood mommies?! Yuck. In my perfect world, every woman who wants a child can have a child, and every woman who doesn't want a child (whether it's temporary or permanent) doesn't have to have a child.

Yup, young women having (icky, yucky, sinful sex) must be forced to bear children for other people.

Don't these people ever even listen to themselves?!

Mahmee said...

Yes, Amanda said it well.
Yuck.
M.