by Stephen Story
Executive Director

It can be helpful to occasionally step back and consider what the landscape looks like in Georgia for the options of abortion and adoption. Here’s a quick look at what’s actually happening in communities across our state.

The most recent data from the Georgia Department of Public Health indicate that 30,013 abortions took place in our state in 2014, with 31,009 abortions the following year (Abort73 provides a helpful summary here). The National Council for Adoption reports that 1,644 children were adopted in Georgia in 2014 and does not yet provide numbers for 2015.

But if we want to know how adoption is doing in terms of being an abortion alternative, then we have to dig a little deeper. And that gets discouraging in a hurry! What we find is that of the 1,644 adoptions referenced by the NCFA in one year in Georgia, only 381 were infants.

That’s right: In the same year that 30,013 infants died by abortion in Georgia, 381 infants were adopted in Georgia. That equates to an astounding 82 infants aborted compared to 1 infant adopted every day in our state.

The numbers underscore what Covenant Care has known all along: adoption is hard. Not only for adoptive parents, but for birthparents. The lies and the societal pressure are inescapable: “Abortion will make your problem go away. It’s quick, it’s easy, and no one will know.”

At the same time, the truth is that adoption is hard. It’s a choice that must be pursued day after day during a pregnancy, at birth, and through the 10 day revocation period, often in the face of opposition from family and friends. It takes tremendous commitment and strength to see an adoption plan through to completion.

Yet all over our state we find women and men who dare to go against the tide. They reject the empty promises of abortion and embrace the unpopular but infinitely better path of adoption. They choose to protect the person God has created as their child. They choose life; they choose a family; and they embrace a plan of adoption. They turn their broken story into one of redemption and hope and restoration.

That’s what God is all about. And by His grace, it’s what Covenant Care is all about. Join with us as we fight the uphill battle to offer adoption in place of abortion!