Missouri lawmaker proposes registry of pregnant women ‘at risk’ for abortions

Dubbed 'eHarmony for babies', bill would create connected databases for pregnant women and those looking to adopt…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/22/missouri-abortion-registry-bill

Missouri proposes registry for pregnant mothers

The bill summary states that, if passed, Missouri would create a registry of every expecting mother in the state "who is at risk for seeking an abortion" starting July 1, 2026. 

The list would be created through the Maternal and Child Services division of the Department of Social Services, but the measure did not specify how the "at risk" would be identified. This registry would also incorporate hopeful adoptive parents who have completed certain screenings, including background checks, home studies and other investigations, according to the legislation...

https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/missouri-pregnant-woman-registry-bill/

A Baby Adopted, A Family Divided (Reveal podcast)

A video leaks of a wealthy politician describing how he adopted a Native child, leading to outrage from the child’s biological family and members of her tribe.

In 2017, David Leavitt drove to the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana to adopt a baby girl. A few years later, during an interview with a documentary filmmaker, Leavitt, a wealthy Utah politician, told a startling story about how he went about getting physical custody of that child.

He describes going to the tribe’s president and offering to use his connections to broker an international sale of the tribe’s buffalo. At the same time, he was asking the president for his blessing to adopt the child.

That video eventually leaked to a local TV station, and the adoption became the subject of a federal investigation into bribery. To others, the adoption story seemed to run afoul of a federal law meant to protect Native children from being removed from their tribes’ care in favor of non-Native families.

This week on Reveal, reporters Andrew Becker and Bernice Yeung dig into the story of this complicated and controversial adoption, how it circumvented the mission of the Indian Child Welfare Act, and why some of the baby’s Native family and tribe were left feeling that a child was taken from them.
Interview: 

https://revealnews.org/podcast/a-baby-adopted-a-family-divided/

Giving Adoption Papers to Anti-Abortion Protestors

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pErfx4OuVpc

A Jewish couple was rejected as foster parents because of their religion. This is the future Project 2025 envisions

But their plans quickly fell apart when the Christian state-funded foster care placement agency informed them by email that they "only provide adoption services to prospective adoptive families that share our belief system". The Rutan-Rams, who are Jewish, were out of luck...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/24/project-2025-adoption-fostering

On Race, House Speaker Mike Johnson Says His Views Were Shaped By Raising a Black Child - The New York Times

"And I've thought often through all these ordeals over the last couple of weeks about the difference in the experiences between my two 14-year-old sons," he said in the PBS interview. "Michael being a Black American and Jack being white Caucasian. They have different challenges. My son Jack has an easier path. He just does."

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/us/politics/mike-johnson-house-speaker-son.html

Abortion associated with lower psychological distress compared to both adoption and unwanted birth, study finds

Of the four outcomes, unwanted birth and adoption had the highest scores on a measure of psychological distress. Research has found that unplanned or unintended pregnancy is related to postpartum depression and is also related to subsequent neglect, abuse, and poor child well-being. Research has also found that unintended pregnancies that result in abortion or adoption can have mental health consequences of their own... 

 … Additionally, the study concludes with these thoughts, "This study showed that among women who experienced an unintended pregnancy, the unwanted birth and adoption group had worse long-term psychological distress consequences. Abortion did not lead to negative psychological consequences. Therefore, it is important to ensure equal and safe abortion opportunities and providing more support to women with unwanted birth."…

https://www.psypost.org/2023/01/abortion-associated-with-lower-psychological-distress-compared-to-both-adoption-and-unwanted-birth-study-finds-64678

As a teen, I gave up my baby, but adoption wasn’t the end of my story - The Washington Post

…It wasn't until college that I came across firsthand accounts from other birthmothers in online forums and chatrooms. Their anger and bitterness shocked me. These women felt exploited by their parents, medical providers, adoptive families, the whole world. But the adults in my life wouldn't subject me to trauma to serve their own interests — right?…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/07/01/teen-pregnancy-adoption-abortion/

Dobbs decision: The psychological impact of surrendering babies for adoption.

This idea that surrendering a baby is newly easy, and that this ease is an argument for eliminating abortion rights, made it into Samuel Alito's final opinion, issued on Friday: "A woman who puts her newborn up for adoption today has little reason to fear that the baby will not find a suitable home."…

https://slate.com/human-interest/2022/06/dobbs-decision-surrendering-babies-adoption-before-roe-ann-fessler.html

This idea that surrendering a baby is newly easy, and that this ease is an argument for eliminating abortion rights, made it into Samuel Alito's final opinion, issued on Friday: "A woman who puts her newborn up for adoption today has little reason to fear that the baby will not find a suitable home."…

Adoption v abortion raised as Supreme Court considers Mississippi law : NPR

"Once you relinquish your child and feel like that child would be better off with someone else, you don't come back from that fully," she said...

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/14/1063784711/its-not-as-simple-as-abortion-v-adoption-just-ask-bri

Amy Coney Barrett raises adoption in abortion case hearing that poses challenge to Roe v. Wade | GMA

"'I'm unfortunately not surprised that adoption was brought up so much, because I think people feel that pregnancy is this non-issue medical condition," said Dr. Leilah Zahedi, a Tennessee-based maternal fetal medicine specialist and fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health. "It's very infuriating to be honest, because it shows their ignorance in the fact that pregnancy is not an uncomplicated condition for the majority of the United States." 

"Pregnancy is probably one of the most dangerous things a woman does in her life, bar none," she said...

https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/wellness/story/amy-coney-barrett-raises-adoption-abortion-case-hearing-81519473

Why Amy Coney Barrett’s questions about adoption worry abortion rights activists - The Lily

… Andréa Becker, a medical sociologist who spoke out against Barrett's line of questioning, said the justice's suggestion that the burdens of pregnancy and parenthood can be allayed by adoption "could not be further from the truth."…

https://www.thelily.com/why-amy-coney-barretts-questions-about-adoption-worry-abortion-rights-activists/

Why is the US right suddenly interested in Native American adoption law?

…The non-Indian plaintiffs contend that federal protections to keep Native children with Native families constitute illegal racial discrimination, and that ICWA's federal standards "commandeer" state courts and agencies for a federal agenda. Put plainly, the mostly white families wanting to foster and adopt Native children are claiming reverse racism and arguing that federal overreach is trampling states' rights – two codewords frequently associated with dismantling anti-racist policies...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/why-is-the-right-suddenly-interested-in-native-american-adoption-law

Ireland is repeating its mother and baby home scandal with its asylum system

"...The hard truth is that the past century of Irish history has a through line of cruelty and callousness against the innocent, the poor, the marginalised and the pregnant, perpetrated by a state and its agencies and tolerated by a society infected with a stifling, craven Catholicism that brooked no compromise..."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/26/ireland-mother-and-baby-home-scandal-asylum-system

US set for flurry of ‘Christian nationalist’ bills advanced by religious right | Christianity | The Guardian

Legislation that would erode LGBTQ and reproductive rights expected to be introduced in states across America, experts warn...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/15/christian-nationalist-religious-right-legislation-bills

Former Arizona GOP politician sentenced to prison for illegal adoption scheme | TheHill

...The human trafficking scheme involved bringing the women to the U.S. to give birth, even though Marshall Islands citizens are banned from going to the U.S. for adoption purposes...

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/528248-former-arizona-gop-politician-sentenced-to-prison-for-illegal-adoption

In connecting Chinese adoptees to birth families, couple makes discovery about China's one-child policy

After learning their child's adoption documents were fake, a Utah couple launched an initiative to help connect adoptees to parents.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/connecting-chinese-adoptees-birth-families-couple-makes-discovery-about-china-n1172301

Pence lauds proposed rule to allow faith-based adoption groups bar LGBTQ parents | TheHill

Vice President Pence this week praised a controversial rule proposed by the Trump administration earlier this month that would allow adoption groups to deny service to LGBTQ parents due to faith-based objections. While speaking about the proposed rule at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Washington on Tuesday, Pence said the Trump administration “reversed the rule implemented in the closing days of the last administration that jeopardized the ability of faith-based providers to serve those in need by penalizing them for their deeply held religious beliefs.” ...
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/470534-pence-lauds-proposed-rule-to-allow-faith-based-adoption-groups-bar

Catholic adoption agency sues Michigan for tying state funding to LGBTQ adoptions - The Hill

A Catholic adoption agency on Monday sued the state of Michigan over a settlement that prevents it from refusing to place children in LGBTQ homes based on religious conviction.....
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/439148-catholic-adoption-agency-sues-michigan-for-tying-state-funding-to-lgbtq

Religious exemption laws exacerbating foster and adoption 'crisis,' report finds

Laws allowing child placement agencies to deny LGBTQ prospective parents are worsening the current “child welfare crisis,” according to a new report....

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/religious-exemption-laws-exacerbating-foster-adoption-crisis-report-finds-n939326