Resources
Podcasts:
1| After Roe: 2 Adoptees on. Abortion: Dumped At Birth
Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, two adult Chinese adoptees discuss the issue of adoption and how it is not the solution to abortion. They share their own experiences to both challenge assumptions and highlight the complexities around adoption.
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/after-roe-2-adoptees-on-abortion/id1694065342?i=1000618447222
2 | Access: a podcast on abortion: 17. Why Adoption Isn’t an Alternative to Abortion
Explores the misconceptions and myths surrounding adoption as the solution to abortion, arguing that adopting can be a cruel solution for both the mother and child as it fails to acknowledge the profound emotional and psychological impact.
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https://www.apodcastaboutabortion.com/episodes/why-adoption-isnt-an-alternative-to-abortion
3 | Transracial adoptees with different views on abortion agree on cultural trauma
Jeancasia Nolan and Marla Horn, both transracial adoptees, provide contrasting viewpoints on abortion while delving into the complexities surrounding identity, culture, and belonging within the context of adoption. Their experiences highlight the emotional challenges many adoptees face, including feelings of loss, disconnection, and the struggle to reconcile their birth cultures.
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Articles:
1. Adoptees who publicly support Roe targeted by anti-abortion activists: ‘What if you were aborted?’
The article addresses stories of adoptees who openly support Roe v. Wade and advocate for reproductive rights, shedding light on how they quickly become targets for anti-abortion activists. Drawing on their own experiences, Annie Wu, Stephanie Drenka, and Becky Belcore advocate work to eliminate harmful narratives and ensure that adoptee perspectives are central to discussions surrounding adoption and abortion.
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2. Opinion: Take it from an adoptee — choice is what matters
Zack Ford reflects on his experience as an adoptee and addresses the recent focus on adoption in the national discourse surrounding abortion rights. Ford works challenge the assumption that adoptees inherently support anti-abortion views and argues that his existence doesn't validate denying others their bodily autonomy.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/29/opinions/supreme-court-abortion-adoption-lgbtq-ford/index.html
3. On anniversary of Roe v. Wade, adoptees don't want to be a 'pawn' in abortion debates
A series of testimonies by adoptees, written in response to Justice Amy Coney Barrett's comments that safe haven laws and adoption could negate the need for access to abortion. The 4 adoptees express frustration at being used as pawns in abortion debates and advocate for centering adoptee voices in discussions about adoption and abortion.
4. My Adoption, My Abortion: Getting Clear About What Counts as a Reproductive Choice
Michele Merritt, an adoptee, argues that adoption is not a viable alternative to abortion because it is not a reproductive choice. Drawing on her own experiences as an adoptee who also had an abortion, she addresses the harmful consequence of conflating adoption and reproductive choice while challenging the popular narrative that adoption provides a "better life".
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5. Aren't You Glad You Weren't Aborted? An Open Letter from an Adoptee
An open letter by Liz Debetta, an adoptee who expresses frustration with the politicization of adoption and the erasure of adoptee voices in the discourse. She challenges the notion that adoption is always a positive alternative to abortion.
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6. Would You Rather Have Been Aborted?":Why Adoption Is Not the Solution to Abortion
A conversation between Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom and Eleana J. Kim in response to the US Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. They highlight the historical and cultural contexts of adoption and critique the oversimplified narratives surrounding adoption and abortion.
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7. Stop Using the Adoption Community — Adoptees, Mothers, Fathers, and Adoptive Parents (AMFAPs) — as Pawns in the Political Battle Over Abortion
A series of testimonies by Adoptees, Mothers, Fathers, and Adoptive Parents that focuses on how many adoptees are pro-choice and how the solution to abortion is not adoption by highlighting trauma and loss experienced by those involved in adoption.
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