Regarding the letter, “Wrong to value lions over people”: Kudos to the letter writer’s daughter for adopting a child! However, their personal experience aside, her belief that “Americans would be lined up to adopt the babies who would be available had they not been killed (aborted)” simply is not borne out in reality. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, in 2013 there were 101,840 children in foster care who are eligible for adoption but have not been adopted. Estimates on abortion place the number at over 1 million per year. Given that we aren’t adopting all of the children who are presently available for adoption, how will we possible absorb another million per year?
It has been proven that abortions go down when the availability of contraceptions goes up. In Colorado, an experiment that provided free long-acting contraceptives to young women resulted in a drop in the teen abortion rate of 42 percent and in teen birthrate of 40 percent. Defunding Planned Parenthood would make contraceptives less available and, ironically, likely increase the number of abortions. This is why it is important to base public policy on actual facts; doing otherwise may lead to the opposite effect than that intended.
Rosemary Nguyen
Lake Stevens
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