This country is divided and many might point to issues of race, religion, and abortion as the main source for the current state of American politics. These topics flood all social media platforms and there doesn’t appear to be a sign that the division will get better anytime soon. I am an independent who leans to the right on social issues but some might call my stance on groups like the KKK left-leaning, depending on how you feel about the 1st Amendment. With that being said there is one thing I do not feel is a right or left based issue but is often only brought up when the left is advocating for abortions. Personally, I find abortion unnecessary given the history of the practice and its well-documented targeting of poor people who live in diverse marginalized areas in the USA.
I have spent countless hours on Twitter, reading tweets I find in the search bar of the platform under #Adoptee, this opened my world up to what adoptees are really going through, which is a person who was adopted by an adult or adults in America. What I found was devastation, depression, and countless cries for help going unanswered and unheard. Abortion is not an answer to keeping children out of the American foster care system. Adoption is also not the answer. So what is the answer?
The answer is simple. Change the way we process advocacy for adoption laws and how we praise and martyr individuals who decide to adopt a child.
Adoptees such as myself who were instead kidnapped as our adopters turned out not to be what we expected from a loving home that was supposed to protect and care for us, do not feel comfortable advocating for adoption. Adoptee complaints range from Sex slavery to not being able to obtain their original birth certificates. All valid reasons for not wanting to call adoption a “beautiful thing”
I think there is a hesitation in the political right-leaning world to address, post a FB status or tweet about fixing adoption and it affects on adoptees in America. I respect that the right stands firm that abortion is abused and targeting certain classes of people and can sympathize with them on not wanting to deal with backlash as I have gotten lots of backlash for calling adoption ‘human trafficking” which I only have 280 characters to work with on the Twitter platform so my words have regrettably alienated part of my following. So I am writing this letter to expand on my stance and to be very clear that wanting to make adoption safer is not a pro-abortion stance. I am pro-child safety and I am pro-human healing.
If the right would be willing to include adoptees who need them as the left tends to dehumanize us as “unwanted children” I think unity and healing would take place rapidly as well as support for pro-life bills and advocacy. Dismissing the issues adoptees are dealing with shuts the door on those people who agree with the right that abortion is evil and unnecessary. It is hard to voice your opinion on abortion when the right claims adoption as the answer and better path when the reality is that until certain laws are amended or created for adoptees it is a catch 22 and a coin toss at best. Tossing a coin for children and their safety with strangers I think is negligent at best. We can do better. The Republicans have more anti-abortion support than they realize but because the conversation is so all or nothing, the amount of support could be so much more.
I write this letter to Republicans and right-leaning anti-abortion advocates. I ask that instead of shutting out adoptee complaints and blindly promoting adoption as safe and effective, we take the time to listen to people who are trying to present new information that ultimately is about keeping children safe from predators and supporting adult adoptees looking for answers as to who they really are so they can be at peace. Good adopted parents are a blessing and a miracle but even the kindest adoptive parent cannot stop their adoptee from wondering why they have those freckles or curly hair and yearning for that information. Let’s come together and fight for human rights without alienating each other.
After all, we need each other and are stronger together no matter who you voted for.
