Let Steve Jobs Rest in Peace!

As the world mourns the too soon death of Apple founder Steve Jobs at just 56 years of age, leaving behind a wife and four children, some are shamelessly exploiting this tragedy for their political agenda.

In the midst of his family's mourning and the world's loss, the pro-life community is disgustingly USING this tragedy for their own personal agenda!  The man is barely in the ground and they are politicizing the fact that he was adopted to spread vicious and specious lies connecting adoption and abortion.

Clara Matthews of LifeNews.com writes in "Steve Jobs’ Adoption Defied Planned Parenthood’s Abortion Agenda": 

"if Planned Parenthood had any say over his destiny, chances are he would have never been given the chance to live such an extraordinary life and lead the next generation of technological advancements.....Clara and Paul Jobs [his adoptive parents] valued the life of a child Planned Parenthood labels a “crisis,” and Steve Jobs did not become just another “problem” Planned Parenthood attempted solve."

A Bakersfield, CA Opinion Letter by Audrey Cochran echoes this belief that Planned Parenthood has the power to make decisions for mothers:

Steve Jobs and abortion

During an excerpt of one of Steve Jobs' news conferences that was rebroadcast the other day, he mentioned he was born to an unwed mother who gave him up for adoption.
This makes me wonder how many babies who would have turned out to be equally innovative and brilliant have been aborted, and how much better our world would be had they been allowed to live.
I believe Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions in many U.S. cities, is a liability, not an asset, and eliminating the millions of dollars we taxpayers give them each year would help balance the budget.

The title of that piece says it all. There is NO connection whatsoever between Steve Jobs and adoption anymore than there is a connection between any living human being and abortion unless they've had one personally (which I doubt in Jobs' case) or performed or recommended one!

Erick Whittington ponders, again in LifeNews.com, "Are Abortions Claiming the Lives of People Like Steve Jobs?"

What if Steve Jobs was conceived today?  Since his parents weren’t married and both attending college there is a much higher chance he would have been aborted.  Could his mother have withstood the pressure from her friends, her classmates and her family members to abort?  Would she of withstood the pressure of a Planned Parenthood abortion salesperson telling her pregnancy is just a blob of tissue & abortion is harmless?  

Hmmmm. what if....what if Steve Jobs had been born female instead of male? Would she have had the same opportunities to achieve what he did in the business world and particularly the It sector? I don't many female IT execs.  What if Steve Jobs had been gay? Why doesn't the gay rights movement get on the bandwagon as long as we are dealing with "what if' scenarios.

Donald R. McClarey of The American Catholic goes further and blames politics. In a piece entitled "Steve Jobs, Adoption and Abortion" McClarey:

I assume that he was a Democrat due to his large political contributions to that party, which is somewhat ironic considering one event at the very beginning of his life.

He concludes:

Abortion has robbed us of many geniuses such as Steve Jobs, some villians [sic] no doubt also, and a great many plain ordinary folks who never got their chance to show what love and work they could bring into our world.  We are immeasurably poorer for their loss.

Steve Job's adoption is a perfect case in point, as a matter of fact, of the fallacy of assumptions about attempts to connect two very different situations: adoption and abortion.

Job's mother and father were in love. Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, a Syrian, and Joanne Carole Schieble (later Simpson), an American of Swiss and German descent wanted to marry. They were forbidden to marry by their parents because of ethnic differences. They loved the child their love had created so much that when forced to relinquish him for adoption, they stipulated very firmly that the adoptive parents must be college educated and must promise to provide a college education for their son. These are all acts of pure love and concern, not the acts of anyone who had even for a second considered ending their son's life!!

Adoption and abortion have as much to do with one another as do marriage and joining a monastery or the circus.  They are choices available to all, but one who chooses one, has by no means ever considered the other.

Abortion is a reproductive right. It is a pregnancy outcome choice.


Adoption is NOT a reproductive right! Not for the expectant mother, nor for those who adopt because adoption does not involve anything whatsoever to do with the PREGNANCY. Adoption is the transfer of custody of living, breathing, human being.  Abortion, on the other hand, does not involve a viable, independent, sustainable human life that could be cared for by alternate care-givers. Aborted fetal matter could not be kept alive by any means.

Adoption involves two families and a child they ultimately share. Abortion involves a mother, her conscience, possibly her religious beliefs and her physician. No other living human being is involved in that decision before or after.

It is common PR practice to piggy back on news events. But this campaign to use the death of an adopted person is offensive to all adopted persons and their original parents, and is especially libelous to John Jandali, and Joanne Carole Schieble Simmons. How DARE anyone make publicly defaming assumptions about these specific people.

There is no more validity to claims of what John and Joanne may or may not have contemplated that to put into a print a claim that The Pope considered having sex before entering the priesthood!

Making any claims that any adoptee is lucky not to have aborted is discriminatory as adopted persons would be at no greater risk than any person! How many of us were the result of unplanned pregnancies? And how many married couples with or without children - of every faith including those who call themselves "good' Catholics" have considered, and had, abortions! Why single out adoptees as having been at a risk any human being in the world is at equal for.

The conjuncture of the pro-lifers is as absurd as to speculate that the world would have been a different place if Gandhi's mother had miscarried while pregnant with him, or if The Dalai Lama's parents had not had coitus on the night he was created. "IF."

But the pro-life campaign linking adoption and abortion relies heavily on lies. The Catholic Conference and other pro life groups lobby state by state to deny adult adopted persons equality in regard to access to their own original birth certificates, keeping them second class, discriminated against citizens.

They do this under the bizarre pretext that allowing such access would cause mothers to abort rather than place a child for adoption and fear being "found out" defying the following facts:

• The days of mother relinquishing out of shame of being pregnant "out of wedlock" are long gone with typewriters and phones with cords attached to the wall.

• Abortion is a very time limited choice that can only be made during the first trimester. Adoption, cannot be chosen until after the child is born!

• The majority of mothers who relinquish children to adoption, are more like Jobs' parents than women who are debating killing the child they are carrying. They are loving,  caring people caught in situations with few really good options, lacking sufficient resources to remain an intact family.

• The vast majority of mothers who lose their children to adoption or are pressured to or chose it as the best option available to them at the time, long to know their child is alive and well, as did Steve Job's parents and sister.

• Finally, the argument that access for adopted adults would create more abortions has been proven to be totally absurd and unsubstantiated. In states which have reversed the Draconian laws that forbid access and maintain secrecy in adoption, disallowing people access to information that could be a matter of life and death, there has been no increase in abortions or decrease in adoptions. this has been documented repeatedly and the pro-life contingent knows it full well yet continues to spew their lies and acts to harm the living in an effort to save a few "unborn" fetuses to increase the profits of those who earn their livelihood redistributing children through adoption.

Let Steve Jobs rest in peace. Stop using him as a poster boy for the pro-life agenda, especially when we have no idea if he was pro-choice or pro-life.  And stop insulting his parents and all mothers who made a loving choice, or were pressured, or given no alternatives but to let their child be adopted...a choice they are told is a LOVING choice.

If anything is going to increase abortion rates it is rhetoric that constantly makes the claim that mothers who make a loving sacrifice to carry a child for nine months will be forever labeled as someone who might have considered abortion!

The other thing that has a chance of increasing abortion is the secrecy of closed adoptions. More mothers today choose open adoption and report they would not have relinquished unless they were assured the adoption would be open.

STOP the insanity! Stop comparing apples and oranges. And for goodness sake stop WHAT IT scenarios about people's lives! What if Jesus was never born? What if Henny Penny is right and thee sky is falling or the hat if the hokey pokey really is all it's all about?  Makes as much sense as ridiculous speculations tying and innocent man's death and his loving, caring parents to a pro-life anti-abortion agenda.

Pro-lifers would decrease far more abortions if they stopped making mothers in crisis pregnancies choose between the devil and deep blue sea and were more supportive of helping them find the resources they need to nurture their children safely. THAT choice saves the unborn just as much as adoption!!!

Lorraine at FMF blogged about another interesting aspect of Steve Jobs life; his denial of paternity of one of his children. See it here.

UPDATE: Steve and his father actually met without knowing it! Steve frequently went to a reastaunat owned by his Dad, according to his forthcomin biography an excerpt reported on Huffington Post. 

Has Adoption Caused you REGRETS?

, abortion, feminismA recent "Womanist Musings" blog post, Abortion, Adoption When Do Women Feel Regrets? is yet again another feminist upset about pro-life agenda's, particularly those that stress the regret women will feel if they chose that option...while extolling the JOYS of placing a child for adoption. Valid point.

The author, however, circles the issue and almost hits the target, but missues slightly as she omits the entire money aspect that drives adoption today.

Add YOUR COMMENTS here.

My comment:

You have hit the nail on the head and yet still missed the mark in that the major issue is the money to be made in marketing healthy white newborns creates intense exploitation, pressure and coercion on women in crisis with no legal counsel or impartial counseling available to them. One a woman THINKS about adoption and speaks to anyone in the indutsy they are brainwashed and haunted until they hand over the prize.

YES...adoption is a limbo loss that is irresolvable and filled with a LIFETIME of regret, feelings of guilt, wrapped in shame and causes PTSD and many physical and psychological repercussions.

Mothers, like myself, HAVE been speaking out since the late 70s - early 80s. many books have been written by mothers such as Birthmark by Lorriane Dusky. No one is listening! More feminists identify with and side with those "desperate" for a child - which now includes same sex couples - who create the market demand than they do about their exploited sisters.

I urge everyone concerned to read: http://tinyurl.com/universal-grief

The loss of a child is felt forever by women everywhere in the world who are being harmed by women's in humanity women in a real life Handmaid's Tale with one exception: the moneyed middle men baby brokers.

This is indeed a topic feminists and all concerned human beings need to be discussing. Families in crisis need help and support to remain intact not to be ripped apart for profit. Or, as the UN Commission on Human Rights said in 2003: "Regrettably, in many cases, the emphasis has changed from the desire to provide a needy child with a home, to that of providing a needy parent with a child. As a result, a whole industry has grown, generating millions of dollars of revenues each year . . ."

Pro-Choice Push for Adoption!

Much has been written by myself and others such as Kathryn Joyce about the pr-life push for adoption.

Take a good stiff drink, grit your teeth,  and read "Adoption: A Pro-Choice Option."

The Adoption Access Network - founded by Spence Chapin, one of the early NCFA members - is launching a campaign to"make adoption a subject that patients and social workers alike feel more comfortable broaching in abortion clinics."

"The whole mission of our project is to bring pro-choice standards to the field of adoption. It’s been difficult for the pro-choice movement to make a claim to adoption. Providers are traditionally only as good as the resources they have available and the truth is the adoption resources haven't been very pro-choice. We decided to address this and have created a network of pro-choice adoption agencies around the country.....Most women who choose adoption, their intitial choice is abortion."

Sound familiar? It's right out of the NCFA propaganda manual for social workers, adoption facilitators and health professionals on how to CONVINCE mothers to relinquish!

Since open adoption is simply not available to many women, having an agency like Spence-Chapin, fully supportive of women's and girl's reproductive rights leading the call is critical...Connecting women's health centers that do offer abortion services, with other health providers, and social service agencies in an area is a noble and important goal.

The Adoption Access Network seeks to look more closely at how to promote ethical and human-rights based adoption services for mothers and their children.

Feel free to vent here, but please help TRY to educate by adding your comments at the site of this article.   

Option Ignored - AGAIN - In Adoption v. Abortion Wars

A reproductive health blog reports the story of Christian evangelist anti-abortion adoptee, Ryan Scott Bomberger who is hell bent on beleiving and preaching that he and other adoptees are far more fortunate not to have been aborted than non-adoptees.

Bomberger owes his existence to rape and says that he can imagine his birth mother’s suffering.  “Rape is evil,” he said via email. “The child born of rape is the only beauty that comes from such a life-crushing experience.” He acknowledges that many anti-abortion activists—though not him--make an exception for women who have been impregnated by rape or incest. “I don’t believe that following an injustice to one precious human being with injustice to another [the unborn child] is justice at all,” he wrote.

Bomberger spreads his bombast on a host of websites: thisisryan.com; toomanyaborted.com; theradiancefoundation.org; and creativeminorityreport.com, among them. He’s also developed the oddly-named shouldhavebeenaborted.com, which perpetuates a slew of myths about prochoice beliefs. “I am one of the unwanted children,” he pontificates. “I am the one that the abortion movement preaches will never live a happy life.”

The blogger then goes on to tell the pain of relinquishment, which is all well and good, except that she is proposing abortion as the only other option!   Too bad Palin persuaded her daughter to be a poster child for "just say no because I wish I had" instead of standing as role model for what is possible with the support of family.

As if that isn't bad enough, read the comments:

• we in the pro-choice community need to work on our language surrounding adoption.  Rather than saying someone is "giving up" a child for adoption, we can use more empowering language that legitimizes this as the right choice for some women.  Women who opt for adoption are *choosing* an adoption plan

• My children know nothing of my first pregnancy or later abortion, nor is it their business.  But there is always a  concern that the first child will somehow find me and cause concern in my chosen family.  

We have a long way to go to ensure expectant mothers have all their options explained and available to them.

Add your comment here.

Yet Another Abortion/Adoption Debate

And another opportunity to reply...

Jay Livingston - a man? - from the Montclair Sociology department wants women to "gift" their children to those less fortunate. Read this sanctimonious hogwash here.

My reply:

As a researcher (for more than 30 years) of adoption and those whose lives have been touched by it, I agree and disagree with you.

You are totally correct that finances, marital, social, educational status all effect who is deemed "deserving" to be a mother (despite marital status or sexual orientation) and who is reviled for the same human desire.

Like white privilege, educated feminists need to be aware of and fight against women's inhumanity to women and the exploitation of lower earning, younger, less educated women for their own profit - in this case the want of a child.

A child is NOT a "gift" though they are all too often treated by the adoption industry as a commodity. With the exception of paid surrogates, women do not become pregnant with the INTENT to give their child to another. That would be a gift (albeit for the payment involved in surrogacy which often renders it exploitive of women of lesser means).

Gifts are given freely, willingly, not under duress or because of lack of the option or support needed not to give something precious and wanted away....or something that you might you think you want to give away and have not second to change your mind once you actually SEE what it is your are losing.

"There’s no shame in sharing with people who have not been similarly gifted."

"Sharing"? A child is not shared when it is adopted. Even in the most open adoption, the original/natural mother - and father - relinquish ALL of their parental rights. Legally, they and their child are strangers to one another and they have no enforceable right to visitation. This is hardly sharing.

Mothers who lose children to adoption have been documented to experience LIFELONG irreversible grief, guilt and shame. It's a limbo loss with no closure and no ritual. Mothers experience PTSD, depression and a multitude of psychological and physical effects that ripple out to their extended families of birth and their formed and attempted relationships.

The adoptee experiences lifelong feelings of rejection and abandonment as well as in the the vast majority of states no access to his own birth certificate...ever!

Adoption should always be a last resort and should not be pitted against abortion while leaving out the third option: helping mothers receive the resources they need (as did Bristol Palin) to remain an intact family. It's no fun for Bristol NOW, but life is too long to have regrets FOREVER and ever!

Women need to stop putting in orders for others' babies which creates a demand which in turn necessitates a supply - often leading to children in Guatemala, China, India and elsewhere being kidnapped an stolen for black market child trafficking.

Infertility needs to be treated with education as to its many preventable causes - starting in H.S. health classes. Infertility is sad, but no woman OWES another her child any more than anyone owes their eyes or organs - while living - to one in need of such.

We need to stop and reverse this trend lest we wind up fulfilling Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale. We are very close now with baby farms and wombs for rent world wide.

Proposed Anti-Family Legislation

The National Council for Adoption (NCFA), The American Academy of Adoption Attorneys (AAAA), the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI), the Joint Council on International Children's Services, Voice for Adoption, and Child Trends have together persuaded legislators to support the following sample of pro-adoption bills in the 111th congress, many of which directly attack the sanctity of natural family connections.

Note how many times "abortion prevention" is stated or inferred. Also noted are ACTIONS that we can take.

S. 324,
Melanie Blocker Stokes Mom's Opportunity to Access Health, Education, Research, and Support for Postpartum Depression Act' or the `Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act.
See also H.R. 20.    Sen. Robert Menendez, NJ    A bill to provide for research on, and services for individuals with, postpartum depression and psychosis.     Introduced 1/26/2009. Referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. 7 cosponsors.

[NOTE: The sponsors of this bill need to be made aware of the LIFELONG depression that results from losing a child to adoption.]


S. 354,
The Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2009.
See also H.R. 626.    Sen. Jim Webb, VA    To provide that 4 of the 12 weeks of parental leave made available to a Federal employee may be paid leave, including for an adoption placement.    Introduced 1/29/2009. Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. 17 cosponsors.

S. 410,
The Resource Family Recruitment and Retention Act of 2009. 
Sen. Blanche Lincoln, AR    A bill to amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to ensure States follow best policies and practices for supporting and retaining foster parents and to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to States to improve the empowerment, leadership, support, training, recruitment, and retention of foster care, kinship care, and adoptive parents.    Introduced 2/11/2009. Referred to the Finance Committee. 10 cosponsors.

S.722,
The Taxpayer Certainty and Relief Act of 2009.
    Sen. Max Baucus, MT    A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for permanent alternative minimum tax relief, middle class tax relief, and estate tax relief, and to permanently extend certain expiring provision, including the adoption tax credit.    Introduced 3/26/2009. Referred to the Finance Committee. 2 cosponsors.
What about "certainty" and "relief" for families in crisis?

NOTE that this bill INCLUDES PROVISIONS MAKING THE ADOPTION EXPNSE TAX CREDIT AND THE EXCLUSION-FROM-INCOME FOR ADOPTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM PROGRAMS PERMANANT!



S. 735,
Protecting Incentives for the Adoption of Children with Special Needs Act of 2009.
See also H.R. 1840.
    Sen. Max Baucus, MT    A bill to ensure States receive adoption incentive payments for fiscal year 2008 in accordance with the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.    Introduced 3/30/2009. Referred to the Finance Committee. 1 cosponsor. Passed the Senate 4/2/2009; passed the House 4/29/2009. Became PL 111-20 on 5/20/2009.
This bill needs to be reviewed. While ii uses "special needs" in the title, are the funds limited to that use?

S. 938,
The White House Conference on Children and Youth in 2010 Act.
See also H.R. 618.    Sen. Mary Landrieu, LA    To require the President to call a White House Conference on Children and Youth in 2010.    Introduced 4/30/2009. Referred to the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee. 11 cosponsors.
Something to keep a sharp eye on!

S. 939,
The Protecting Adoption and Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Act of 2009.    Sen. Mary Landrieu, LA    To establish national and State putative father registries, to make grants to States to promote permanent families for children and responsible fatherhood, and for other purposes.    Introduced 4/30/2009. Referred to the Finance Committee. 0 cosponsors.
NOTE: This bill is to CREATE A NATIONAL DATABASE OF STATE PUTATIVE FATHER REGISTRIES.  It has "strong support" from AAAA and NCFA.

S. 986,
Foster Care Mentoring Act of 2009.
    Sen. Mary Landrieu, LA    A bill to support the establishment or expansion and operation of programs using a network of public and private community entities to provide mentoring for children in foster care.    Introduced 5/6/2009. Referred to the Finance Committee. 2 cosponsors.

S. 1032,
The Pregnant Women Support Act.
Also see H.R. 2035.    Sen. Robert Casey, PA    To provide for programs that reduce abortions, help women bear healthy children, and support new parents.     Introduced 5/13/2009. Referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. 1 cosponsor.
This is newspeak for increasing adoptions.

S. 1286,
The Keeping Families Safe Act.    Sen. John D. Rockefeller, IV, WV    To eliminate the requirement that, to be eligible for foster care maintenance payments, a child would have been eligible for aid under the former program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children at the time of removal from the home.    Introduced 6/18/2009. Referred to the Finance Committee. 0 cosponsors.

S. 1359,
Foreign Adopted Children Equality Act or the `FACE Act.'
Also see H.R. 3110.    Sen. Mary Landrieu, LA
    A bill to provide United States citizenship for children adopted from outside the United States, and for other purposes. Introduced 6/25/2009. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 1 cosponsor.

S. 1376    Sen. Amy Klobuchar, MN    A bill to restore immunization and sibling age exemptions for children adopted by United States citizens under the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption to allow their admission to the United States.     Introduced 6/25/2009. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 4 cosponsors.

S. 1458,
The Families for Orphans Act.
See also H.R. 3070.    Sen. Mary Landrieu, LA    To encourage the development and implementation of a comprehensive, global strategy for the preservation and reunification of families and the provision of permanent parental care for orphans, and for other purposes.    Introduced 7/16/2009. Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. 1 cosponsor.
          
H.R. 2,
The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009.
    Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., NJ-6    To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to extend and improve the Children's Health Insurance Program, including provisions that affect adopted children.    Introduced 1/13/2009. Referred to the House Energy and Commerce, House Ways and Means, and House Education and Labor Committees. 43 cosponsors. Became PL 111-3 on 2/4/2009.
Note that it does not cover children with medical and other special needs who remain within their families,

H.R. 20,   The Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act.
Also see S. 324.    Rep. Bobby Rush, IL-1    To provide for research on, and services for individuals with, postpartum depression and psychosis.    Introduced 1/6/2009. Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce. 15 cosponsors. Passed the House 3/30/2009. H. Rpt 111-48.
Will this include help for post adoption epression and PTSD?

H.R. 213,
The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009.
    Rep. Joe Wilson, SC-2    To repeal the sunset of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 with respect to the expansion of the adoption credit and adoption assistance programs.    Introduced 1/6/2009. Referred to the Ways and Means Committee. 94 cosponsors.

H.R. 221,
The Adoption Information Act.
    Rep. Robert Wittman, VA-1    To require assurances that certain family planning service projects and programs will provide pamphlets containing the contact information of adoption centers.    Introduced 1/6/2009. Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. 0 cosponsors.
NOTE: All the efforts to "reduce abortions" and provide adoption information.

H.R. 605,
The Pregnant Women Support Act.
    Rep. Lincoln Davis, TN-4    To provide for programs that reduce the need for abortion, help women bear healthy children, and support new parents, including expanding and making refundable the adoption tax credit.    Introduced 1/16/2009. Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and others. 6 cosponsors.
What is the "refundable adoption tax credit?"  I will be seeking an answer.

H.R. 618,
The White House Conference on Children and Youth in 2010 Act. See also S. 938.
    Rep. Chaka Fattah, PA-2    To require the President to call a White House Conference on Children and Youth in 2010.    Introduced 1/21/2009. Referred to House Committee on Education and Labor. 49 cosponsors.

H.R. 626,
The Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act of 2009.     
See also S. 354.    Rep. Carolyn Maloney, NY-14    To provide that 4 of the 12 weeks of parental leave made available to a Federal employee may be paid leave, including for an adoption placement.    Introduced 1/22/2009. Referred to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. 55 cosponsors. 6/4/2009 passed House. House Rpt. 111-116, part 1.

H.R. 636,
The Positive Alternatives Act.    Rep. Michele Bachmann, MN-6    To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to allow funds provided under the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families to be used for alternative-to-abortion services, including adoption counseling.     Introduced 1/22/2009. Referred to the Ways and Means Committee. 31 cosponsors.

H.R. 643,
The Care for Life Act of 2009.    Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, NE-1    To encourage and assist women to carry their children to live birth by providing services, during and after pregnancy, that will alleviate the financial, social, emotional, and other difficulties that may otherwise lead to abortion. It also expands and makes refundable the adoption tax credit.    Introduced 1/22/2009. Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and others.1 cosponsor.

H.R. 1105,
The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009.
    Rep. David Obey, WI-7    Making omnibus appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, including for the Adoption Assistance, Awareness, Opportunities, and Incentive programs.    Introduced 2/2/3/2009. Referred to the House Appropriation and Budget Committees. Became PL 111-8 on 3/11/2009.

H.R. 1505,
The Birth Parent Assistance Act.    Rep. Jean Schmidt, OH-2    To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide services for birth parents who have placed a child for adoption, and for other purposes.    Introduced 3/12/2009. Referred to the House Education and Labor Committee. 36 cosponsor.

H.R. 1840, The Protecting Incentives for the Adoption of Children with Special Needs Act of 2009.     See also S. 735.    Rep. Dave Camp, MI-4    To ensure States receive adoption incentive payments for fiscal year 2008 in accordance with the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.    Introduced 4/1/2009. Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. 1 cosponsor. Passed the House 4/29/2009. Became PL 111-20 on 5/20/2009.

H.R. 2035,
The Pregnant Women Support Act.
Also see S.1032    Rep. Lincoln Davis, TN-4    To provide for programs that reduce abortions, help women bear healthy children, and support new parents.     Introduced 4/22/2009. Referred to numerous committees. 39 cosponsors.

H.R. 2072,
The School Choice for Foster Kids Act.
    Rep. Michele Bachmann, MN-6    To authorize States to use funds provided for the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program to provide vouchers to cover tuition costs at private schools, and transportation costs to and from public schools, of foster children of all ages.    Introduced 4/23/2009. Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. 23 cosponsors.

H.R. 2339,
Family Income to Respond to Significant Transitions Act.
    Rep. Lynn Woolsley, CA-6    To establish a program that supports the efforts of States to provide partial or full wage replacement to new parents, so that the new parents are able to spend time with a new infant or newly adopted child, and to other employees, and for other purposes.    Introduced 5/7/2009. Referred to the Education and Labor Committee. 20 cosponsors.

H.R. 2524,
Dave Thomas Adoption Act of 2009.
    Rep. Peter King, NY-3    To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow penalty-free withdrawals from individual retirement plans for adoption expenses.    Introduced 5/20/2009. Referred to the Ways and Means Committee. 2 cosponsors.

H.R. 3070,
Families for Orphans Act of 2009.
See also S. 1458.
    Rep. Diane E. Watson, CA-33    To encourage the development and implementation of a comprehensive, global strategy for the preservation and reunification of families and the provision of permanent parental care for orphans, and for other purposes.
    Introduced 6/26/2009. Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. 4 cosponsor.

H.R. 3110,
Foreign Adopted Children Equality Act or the `FACE Act.'
Also see S. 1359.    Rep. Diane E. Watson, CA-33    A bill to provide United States citizenship for children adopted from outside the United States, and for other purposes.
    Introduced 6/26/2009. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. 3 cosponsor.

H.R. 3329,
The Look-back Elimination Act.    Rep. John Lewis, GA-5    To eliminate the requirement that, to be eligible for foster care maintenance payments, a child would have been eligible for aid under the former program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children at the time of removal from the home.    Introduced 7/24/2009. Referred to the Ways and Means Committee. 8 cosponsors.

H.Res. 358
    Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, FL-5    A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Adoption Day and National Adoption Month by promoting national awareness of adoption and the children in foster care awaiting families, celebrating children and families involved in adoption, recognizing current programs and efforts designed to promote adoption, and encouraging people in the United States to seek improved safety, permanency, and well-being for all children    Introduced 4/23/2009. Referred to the Ways and Means Committee.
      
H.Res. 391    Rep. Jim McDermott, WA-7    A resolution recognizing May as "National Foster Care Month" and acknowledging that the House of Representatives should continue to work to improve the Nation's foster care system.    Introduced 4/30/2009. Referred to the Ways and Means Committee. On 5/6/2009 passed the House.

Abortion/Adoption: Faulty Study/Faulty Comparisons

Abortion Has Greater Impact on Parenting than Other Forms of Pregnancy Loss, New Review Finds, LifeSiteNews.com

July 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A new review of studies examining various types of prenatal loss and the effects on subsequent parenting has concluded that abortion may be "particularly damaging to the parenting process."

The article, published in Current Women's Health Reviews, looks at already published studies on miscarriage, induced abortion and adoption. The author, Priscilla Coleman of Bowling Green State University, focuses on psychological reactions to these various types of loss and discusses how they might affect a mother's relationship with children born after the pregnancy loss.

It is now known that women usually begin feeling maternal attachment in the early stages of pregnancy. The paper notes that despite the increased responsibilities and stress involved in raising children, "numerous studies have documented positive psychological characteristics associated with motherhood including increases in life satisfaction, self-esteem, empathy, restraint, flexibility and resourcefulness in coping, and assertiveness." Losing a child before or at birth, for any reason, however, "can be a profound source of suffering."

While all forms of pregnancy loss can cause emotional distress that can impact future parenting, the available research indicates that emotional responses after induced abortion are more likely to go unresolved and to persist for a longer time period.

Coleman writes that "society understands that women who miscarry or relinquish a child through adoption may experience sadness and grief." However, she continues, grief after abortion is "socially sanctioned because abortion is not acknowledged by our culture as a human death experience." Consequently help to deal with the experience is usually not offered.

"In many cases, women may suppress thoughts and emotions related to an abortion, because they have not been able to process and or/openly express negative emotions," Coleman writes, adding that the lack of acknowledgement and support after abortion gives the "covert message that others would rather not hear what we have to say, and this makes it difficult to even identify our reactions to our losses."

Finding help and support after abortion is further hampered by the belief that, unlike other forms of pregnancy loss, abortion is optional and therefore women experience less distress afterwards. However, having an abortion is "sometimes quite inconsistent with the woman's true desires," says Coleman, (one survey found that 64 percent of American women who had abortions reported feeling pressured to abort), and many women, especially those who feel conflicted or didn't want the abortion, do feel emotional distress afterwards.

"The best evidence regarding negative effects of abortion indicates that 20-30 percent will experience serious psychological problems," Coleman says. "With 1.3 million U.S. abortions performed annually, a minimum of 130,000 new cases of abortion-related mental health problems appear each year."

While abortion advocates frequently argue that abortion is better than carrying an unplanned pregnancy to term, the evidence suggests otherwise.

Studies of women with unplanned pregnancies found that women who aborted had higher risks of depression, substance abuse and anxiety, and teens who aborted an unintended pregnancy were more likely to experience negative mental health outcomes than their peers who carried to term. Further, a recent New Zealand study led by a pro-choice researcher found no evidence that abortion provided any mental health benefits to women even in cases of unplanned pregnancy.

The paper describes a number of ways that a previous abortion can affect a woman's relationship with her living children:

- Increased depression and anxiety. Abortion has been linked to higher rates of maternal depression and anxiety before and after birth, which may affect the woman's relationship with her children. In addition, depression is a common predictor for child abuse.
- Sleep disorders and disturbances. Women who have had an abortion are more likely to experience sleep disorders compared to women who carry to term, and one survey found that many women attributed the sleep disorders to a past abortion. These sleep disturbances "could render the high energy demands of parenting more complicated," says Coleman.
- Substance abuse. Studies have found that women who had an abortion were more likely to engage in substance abuse, and also more likely to smoke or use drugs or alcohol while pregnant. Mothers who abuse drugs or alcohol are more likely to "engage in authoritarian and punitive parenting practices," and parental substance abuse increases the risk that the children will suffer abuse or neglect.
- Child abuse. Abortion has been associated with lower emotional support for one's children and with a higher risk of child abuse and neglect.

Abortion has also been linked to higher rates of suicide and to a wide range of mental health disorders. Coleman was also the lead author of a study published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, which found that the children of women who had abortions have less supportive home environments and more behavioral problems than children of women without a history of abortion.

While the review by Coleman notes that not every woman may experience psychological problems after abortion that will carry over into her personal relationships, "some women will have carryover effects into the parenting realm." The paper points to a need for better screening and awareness of possible psychological problems after miscarriage, adoption and abortion, and for more research to examine the effects of abortion.

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I bet you're thinking this woman has not done her homework. She's not read Rickarby or other studies on the lifelong effects of adoption loss....or is intentionally ignoring those facts to prove her own pro-life position. Simple common sense tells you that whatever attachment is formed during the first trimester is multiplied by three if one carrie a child to term, and then is greatly increased by going through labor and delivery...not to mention knowing that a real, live human being is "out there" somewhere - or you can see, but not parent. Mothers who have experienced both an abortion - or miscarriage - and a loss to adoption report that the adoption is the more painful of the two.

Well, you're not alone:

Priscilla K. Coleman is an Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.[1] Coleman has published numerous studies in peer-reviewed journals regarding abortion and mental health.[2][3]

The conclusions of Coleman and her co-authors have been criticized by the American Psychological Association (APA)[3] A panel convened by the APA has written that the studies by Coleman, and her co-authors have "inadequate or inappropriate" controls and don't adequately control "for women's mental health prior to the pregnancy and abortion." [3]

Research associates of Coleman's have also been criticized. In an unpublished letter to the Journal of Anxiety Disorders, on file with PublicEye.org, Jillian Henderson and Katharine Miller state:

"We believe that Cougle, et al., operate with strong political views regarding abortion, and unfortunately their biases appear to have resulted in serious methodological flaws in the analysis published in your journal.... All are involved in building a literature to be used in efforts to restrict access to abortion." [4]

References

1. ^ BGSU.edu
2. ^ "Is there a Post Abortion Syndrome"? The New York Times
3. ^ a b c NOW with David Brancaccio PBS
This article may contain inappropriate or misinterpreted citations that do not verify the text. Please help improve this article by checking for inaccuracies. (help, talk, get involved!) (May 2009)
HINOJOSA: In emails, two prominent independent scientists, on a panel that is reviewing the scientific literature for the American Psychological Association told us the studies have "inadequate or inappropriate" controls and don't adequately control "for women's mental health prior to the pregnancy and abortion."
4. ^ Correspondence between Jillian Henderson and Katharine Miller and journal editors Michel Hersen and Cynthia Last, January 13, 2004 on file at PRA.

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And...for another bad comparison of abortion and adoption..."Is Adoption Reform Common Ground on Abortion?"

My reply:

Missing the Most Loving Option

Pitting adoption and abortion against one another or even in the same sentence is wrong for several reasons.

Adoption cannot - or at least should not - be considered until there is a fully independent human being living to consider placing for adoption. Adoption/abortion dichotomies such as this rely on a totally false and unsubstantiated assumption that women who lose children to adoption -- voluntarily or involuntarily - are more apt to consider abortion than those who don't.

This is offensive to mothers who have made what many pro-lifers like to call a "loving sacrifice." It is also thoughtlessly offensive and hurtful to adoptees of all ages, who are made to feel "grateful" that they weren't adopted and need not be any more than any other person. As the trailer for the movie "My Sister's Keeper" states: MOST babies are accidents. Your argument omits the two most important aspects of this debate: First, increased sex education and access to birth control to reduce teen pregnancies which is done quite successfully in western Europe.

Secondly, the most loving, most caring, most difficult option of all: mothering. A moral society supports this decsion over all others and provide resources to encourage family preservation as the option of choice. Expectant mothers in temporary crisis or struggling financially need support. What they do NOT need is to be pulled between political, religious camps or exploited and coerced by a multi-billion dollar adoption industry that depends financially on family separations and the redistribution of children. This mega industry employs marketing agents and lobbyists to exploit and coerce mothers and commodify their babies to meet a demand...often successfully gaining well-meaning pro-life supporters ... while more than a hundred thousand children in foster care COULD be adopted! Shame, shame on all of you!