Where would the babies go?

Dear Editor:I've just finished reading the latest submissions to the "right to life" argument, most of which seemed to focus on where life begins. ("A Child, Not a Choice," Letters to the Editor, 9/13/12) Setting that argument aside along with all of its religious implications, I always read those letters looking for the discussion about what happens to those babies who are born but are not wanted. There could be a whole range of reasons why a woman might decide that she doesn't want the baby but in a way those reasons are beside the point. What I want to know is this: if born and born in numbers, where do these unwanted babies go? Right-to-lifers insist that all babies be born but I have yet to read anywhere about a multitude of caretakers, families, organizations, institutions, etc. that are ready, willing and financially prepared to accept these babies. Most certainly right-to-lifers cannot point to a government agency like a Children's Services Department or think that these unwanted babies will be snatched up by foster care. Those agencies are already overwhelmed. As for adoptions, there aren't enough people adopting to offset the number still available and clogging the system. Oddly enough, while right-to-lifers are strident in their insistence that all babies be bore, none of them have ever detailed in concrete terms exactly what happens next: what happens to these babies when they're ready to leave the hospital? If the right-to-life adherents have no answer and cannot, for example, point to an institutional setting that they themselves fund (an orphanage, perhaps?), then they provide no real alternative to a woman who has decided that she cannot have the baby, perhaps because she can't afford to raise the child - or just doesn't want to. While right-to-lifers have made it their mission to parade around abortion clinics and wave their signs, I've never seen a sign that says, "Have Your Baby. Give Your Baby to Me. I'll Give Your Baby a Home." At least at that point a woman walking into the clinic and seeing such a sign would realize that there is an alternative. At least there would be a starting point for a discussion. Muriel C. Schuerman Downey

********** Published: September 20, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 23