One study found that single teen mothers who chose adoption for their children were as satisfied with their decision as those who chose to parent. Studies have also shown that unmarried young women who make adoption plans for their babies have higher educational aspirations, are more likely to finish school, and less likely to live in poverty and receive public assistance than those who parent. They also delay marriage longer, are more likely to marry eventually and are less likely to repeat an out-of -wedlock pregnancy than those who become single parents. Of all the options in an unmarried pregnancy, planning for adoption is chosen the least often. On a national scale, only 2% of unmarried women who carry their babies to term make adoption plans. Perhaps if more women were presented with a comprehensive, biblically-rooted view of adoption, they might choose it over abortion or single parenting. A birth mother who made an adoption plan shares her thoughts:
I was single, no prospects of marriage. I thought about where I would be in 10 years, looking back.
Would I rather look back on a life that began and then abruptly ended? Or, would I want to look back
on a life that I knew still existed, even if I had no part in it? I could make something positive out
of something negative.
|
