The Option of Adoption-2nd Place
“Adoption: if a baby is not a blessing for you right now, let them be a blessing to someone else.”- unknown. Adoption not only gives life to your baby, but also to the family who adopts it. Abortion is a permanent and final decision, but with adoption you are presented with many different options. Christians should know just how truly special and glorious adoption can be, for we are adopted to be sons and daughters of the most wonderful Father!
Throughout the world there are women who feel very afraid to become parents, perhaps because they are unprepared. These women once pregnant sadly start investigating the option of abortion, but what if they turned their perspective to putting their child up for adoption instead? With adoption they would be giving life to their child rather than taking it, and giving life and happiness to someone else! Some families long to become parents; but due to their circumstances, they are unable to achieve this goal for various reasons such as a medical condition or infertility. Many have tried to have a child of their own, and some have even attempted invetro. Unfortunetly for the famalies that have attempted ivetro, recent studies state the success rate is only at approximately forty percent for women who are under the age of thirty-five. So what about the other sixty percent? Most turn to adoption! Although they may not have a child of their own DNA they will still get the opportunity of becoming parents!
Ultimately it is up to the birth mother, whether she will put her child up for adoption or have an abortion. Both decisions are life changing and will leave an impact on the mother for the rest of her life. Adoption is a process where the birth mother gets to decide what she wants for herself and her child. She can decide whether she wants her child to be put up for an open adoption or a closed adoption. An open adoption gives the mother the chance to decide where she wants her baby to go before or after it is born. The mother is also allowed to have open contact with her child at all times. In a closed adoption the baby is adopted by another family and record of the birth parents is kept sealed. Adoption gives the mother the chance to see what things unfold in her child’s life and what kind of person they will become. Abortion on the other hand, is a final and permanent decision. Once the surgery is performed there is no going back. Many women end up regretting their decision. Some research even states that eighty percent of women who have an abortion have feelings of self hatred, sixty percent of women have reoccurring thoughts of suicide, and thirty percent attempt suicide. Nancy Hendron from the Christian Science Monitor said “Of the 1.1million American teen-age girls who get pregnant each year, less than 2 percent put their babies up for adoption. About half of the teens have abortions. Most of the rest- 58 percent single parents struggle to raise their babies while trying to finish school and hold down jobs. It is a tragic situation for both the young mothers and the many infertile couples aching to adopt.” Abortion will only leave the mother questioning her choice wondering what might have been, leaving her in a world of uncertainty. Whereas adoption gives life and gives answers of certainty, leaving her in peace and a place where she can go on, giving her back the beauty of life.
We as Christians should know just how beautiful adoption is, for when we ask Jesus into our hearts he adopted us into His family! John 1:12-13 says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God.” This verse proves that as soon as we ask Him into our heart and believe in His name, we will become part of His family. God’s form of adoption is the strongest kind of adoption. Galatians 4:4-5 says, “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” God sent Jesus to this earth where He was born of a woman to redeem us from our sins so we can become His children! Adoption is an incredible thing that God himself has made special.
2nd Place Winner of 2019 BFLW Essay Contest
Emily Evans (Age 16)
Tomah Baptist Academy
Tomah Wisconsin