A lot of people seem to confusedly think that secrecy/anonymity in #adoption is part of “reproductive freedom” because they forget that the reproduction already happened, and that the infant is a person with rights of their own.
And by “a lot of people” I mean the fucking ACLU.
Yep! As of July 1.
Want to know something amazing? There are *15 states* that give adult adoptees unrestricted access to their own birth records. The remainder either grant other people veto power, or (like TX and CA) just tell adoptees to fuck off. 🥚
Is there any research on how that affects whether or not people choose to adopt out and/or end pregnancy and/or infant mortality? I had trouble finding anything specifically on topic
Gretchen Sisson’s work on the Turnaway Study is relevant. Adoption is so unpopular that 91% of those interviewed who sought and were denied abortions chose to keep the children they bore. And as for the idea that those who do relinquish generally seek anonymity: it’s the exception. Far from the rule
Interesting to know, I definitely thought that anonymity or at least no contact was the rule but that could just be that was the case for the adoptees I knew
Do you know if it covers life outcomes for the children or parents? So far I haven't met a happy adoptee but the argument is that things would've been worse
In my case, things wouldn't have been worse, but infinitely better. In fact, the family who relinquished me kept the next child they bore, making 7 in all. My adoption was unnecessary and I wound up in a violent, evangelical situation. It was in adoption that things couldn't have been worse for me.
I'm not an adoptee but I spent a lot of time avoiding foster care and think about all the different ways things could've gone at various developmental stages. We never got any sort of support and it was traumatic but by the time I was old enough that things fell apart, I knew it could be worse
