Adoption and Reproductive Exploitation
By Jess DelBalzo and Bryony Lake
In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
depicted a futuristic society in which fertile young women were
held captive and used to bear children for sterile, upper-class
wives. The scenario sounds extreme, but sadly, it is not as
fictional as one might hope. Vulnerable young women fall victim
to reproductive exploitation every day, even in our industrialized
North American world.
Exploitation commonly occurs when a powerless
group of individuals possesses something that other, more powerful
individuals covet. It is nearly unavoidable in a capitalist
society, where financial success is often achieved at the expense
of innocent men, women, and children.
The exploitation of women, specificially, is not
a foreign concept to most of us. For decades, human rights activists
have rallied against deplorable working conditions, child prostitution,
sexual slavery, and other devastating practices that abuse disadvantaged
members of society. Why, then, has reproductive exploitation
been ignored?
In its most common form, reproductive exploitation
is used as a tool of the billion-dollar adoption industry. Well-protected
by donations from satisfied adopters, large payments from would-be
adopters, and of course the religious and fundamentalist organizations
that promote the industry, few people have the opportunity to
understand adoption for the business it is.
Advertised as an alternative for infertile couples
who desperately want to be "parents," demand for children
(and mothers to birth them) is high. Finding pregnant women
who are eager to hand their newborn babies over to strangers
is next to impossible, and so adoption workers have taken to
using coercive tactics against young, poor, and otherwise vulnerable
expectant mothers. These mothers-to-be are told that they are
selfish if they express the natural desire to keep their children,
told that they will quickly get on with their lives and bear
other children when they are older/wealthier/married, told that
there is no other option available to them. They are not informed
of the devastating effect adoption often has on children, nor
are they told of the damage adoption will likely inflict on
their own psyches. Adoption workers do not care about the well-being
of mothers or children, though they may put on a good act to
convince expectant parents that their motives are pure. They
care about profits, about the image their business is presenting
to powerful, potential customers. And there you have it: reproductive
exploitation.
Consider how easily the following quotes about
sexual exploitation can be altered to reflect the tactics of
the adoption industry:
From http://www.caseyonline.org/sexploit.htm:
"Have you ever heard a child say, "When
I grow up, I want to be a prostitute?" For children and
youth, working the streets is not a choice. Their lack of life
experience and naivety about where the road to the street leads
precludes their ability to make a conscious, informed choice."
Now, slightly re-worded:
"Have you ever heard a little girl say, 'When
I grow up, I want to be a birthmother?' For children and youth,
surrendering a baby to adoption is not a choice. Their lack
of life experience and naivety about the pregnancy/motherhood
continuum precludes their ability to make a conscious, informed
choice."
And from http://www.mcf.gov.bc.ca/youth:
"A sexually exploited youth is someone who
is under the age of 18, who has been manipulated or forced into
prostitution through perceived affection and belonging, and
in return receives drugs, narcotics, money, food and/or shelter."
With a bit of re-wording:
"A reproductively-exploited youth is someone
who is under the age of 18, who has been manipulated or forced
into surrendering her baby through perceived affection, approval,
and promises that the well-being of her baby depends on the
baby being turned over to unrelated strangers at birth; and
in return receives coverage of medical expenses, shelter, and
promises that she can return to pre-pregnant life and will "get
over it.'"
Of course, reproductive exploitation is not limited
to women under the age of 18. Older women are equally at risk,
especially when they are poor, unmarried and/or emotionally
vulnerable. Just as older women can be sexually exploited, they
too can be taken advantage of for their fertility.
Though reproductive exploitation has yet to be
acknowledged in mainstream society, its existence cannot be
denied. Millions of women have been exploited for their fertility
in the past 50 years, and millions more will fall prey to such
exploitation if measures are not taken to protect them.
As a society, we cannot ethically work to prevent
sexual exploitation while allowing women to be exploited by
another, equally violent industry. Fertile women who do not
wish to become pregnant must be granted access to accurate information
about sexual issues, pregnancy, and birth control, as well as
access to contraceptives. Women who become pregnant either by
choice or by chance must be treated with respect regardless
of their age, financial situation, or marital status. They must
be informed of their rights and given access to all available
resources to help them raise their children. They must be armed
with information about any decision they make. And above all,
they must -not be coerced, lied to, or shamed into believing
that adoption is their only option. These protections against
reproductive exploitation must be made into law.
-Now-powerless fertile women will be empowered.
Their children will be treated as human beings, rather than
as "product" to be sold. The only loser will be the
adoption industry - and when you look at it that way, everyone
wins.
"In order to drive a car you must be of a
certain age, to drink you must be a certain age, to have your
own credit card or even your own bank account without parent
signatures you must be a certain age, in order to join the army
you must be of a certain age - yet government allows very young
vulnerable single mothers to sign a legally-binding document
handing over their own flesh-and-blood, another human life,
to complete strangers." - Claudia Ganzon, natural mom searching
for the daughter she was separated from in 1982.
Copyright 2003 © Jess DelBalzo and Bryony Lake
