As soon as Baby India was found, families by the hundreds began offering to adopt her.
The newborn had been abandoned shortly after she was born, pitched into the woods along Daves Creek Road in Forsyth County, Ga. Nearby residents called the sheriff’s department after hearing what they thought might be someone crying, and the officers who answered the call found the baby, with its umbilical cord still attached, tied up in a plastic bag and thrown away.
A video of the rescue, recorded on a body camera worn by one of the responders and uploaded to YouTube by the Sheriff’s Department, has been viewed more than 1.4 million times. “She’s a sweetheart,” says one of the rescuers the moment he sees the baby. “She’s a sweetheart.”
She is a sweetheart, but sweeter by far was the reaction to her discovery. No sooner did the news begin spreading than the calls started coming in from families wishing to bring up Baby India as their daughter. More than 700 adoption inquiries had been received as of Saturday, the director of Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services told The New York Times – and that doesn’t include the 200 families who were already on a state waiting list of potential adoptive parents.
“I even had somebody message me on LinkedIn,” the director said. “This is an amazing outpouring of love. She’s a precious, beautiful little child.”
There was a time in human history when it was common for unwanted infants to be abandoned and left to die of exposure. Today such a practice is unthinkable – most of us cannot imagine what demons of insanity, desperation, or numbness could drive a mother to do something so heartless. All the more so since, as the response to Baby India demonstrates, there are parents who will gladly, eagerly adopt any child in need of a home.
There is no such thing as an unadoptable boy or girl. One estimate puts the number of US families seeking to adopt at 2 million. Yet only about 135,000 children are adopted each year in the United States. The supply of would-be parents ready to provide a loving home vastly exceeds the number of children available for adoption.
That is a truth worth remembering whenever the specter of “unwanted children” is raised, as it routinely is in debates over abortion. Better to abort a fetus in the womb, some pro-choice advocates insist, than to bring an unwanted child into the world. Sometimes, as Megan McArdle suggests, that’s a disingenuous argument: Abortions are often procured not because a child would be unthinkable, but because pregnancy is unwanted. But what about women who turn to abortion not because pregnancy itself fazes or frightens them, but because they just do not want the baby they are carrying – maybe they regard motherhood as intolerable, or the baby is at risk of a genetic disorder, or the father has vanished and the prospect of parenting alone is too daunting. In such cases, Baby India offers reassurance: You don’t have to destroy a baby just because you don’t want her. There are always others, usually many others, who want it very much.
That’s the case not only for healthy infants free of serious problems, but for nearly all babies and children, whatever their condition. In America, there are parents available for any child who needs adopting. Conna Craig – a former foster child who in the 1990s founded the Institute for Children, a think tank dedicated to reforming foster care – says it is a myth that adoptive parents are interested only in “healthy white babies.” There are parents ready to shower their love on sick children, on minority children, on older children. Babies born with HIV, with cerebral palsy, with severe disfigurement – there are nearly always parents who are ready to adopt even youngsters with the most challenging problems.
An unintended consequence of legalizing abortion in the United States was a sharp reduction in the number of babies placed for adoption. The shortage of children for hopeful adoptive parents is exacerbated by state foster-care systems, in which tens of thousands of children languish because of needless bureaucratic complexity or wrongheaded incentives.
Yet the fact remains: Every child is adoptable. No baby is unwanted. To throw an infant away in the woods is not just a criminal act, not just a moral obscenity, but also a heartbreaking waste of love. Why should any child be abandoned, or any baby deprived of life, when so many potential mothers and fathers yearn with all their hearts for the chance to adopt?
This article originally appeared in Jeff Jacoby’s Arguable newsletter at the Boston Globe. Click here to sign up to his newsletter.
(12) Judith Trinkaus, July 26, 2019 10:15 PM
I was adopted!
Just like all of us, I have my ups and downs. Although I never was able to meet my birth mom (or dad), I am grateful that she afforded me the opportunity to live! I am retired and I enjoy volunteering at my local veterans retirement home. I like to think that in my small way I have a purpose.
(11) Louis Eisenhauer, July 10, 2019 2:37 PM
Wendy's cares too.
Not intending to promote a company but Wendy's will donate 5 dollars to help with abortion everytime you scan the code on a soda cup. Founder Dave Thomas was adopted.
(10) Dedun, July 4, 2019 3:01 PM
Not True
If this were the case explain to me why thousands of African American kids go unadopted in America and after she 28, age out of the system and dumped into shelters? People would rather adoption in China and Eastern Europe than adopt these children. And that is a fact. Kudos to many who adopt out of their race.
Anonymous, July 10, 2019 11:57 PM
The system makes it too hard to adopt. People go to China and Eastern Europe because international adoption is ironically easier to procure.
(9) Anonymous, July 4, 2019 2:53 PM
The mother
Clearly the mother wasnt someone like you with a relatively regular upbringing and relatively sound mental health. So i just think the judgement at the mother is inappropriate. You dont know her, you dont know her story. Here's another idea, maybe its the father who is abusive and controlling and threw out the baby. I dont think its kind or fair to jump to conclusions about the mother.
(8) Dena, July 4, 2019 11:14 AM
Well written article. Good points
(7) Michy, July 3, 2019 8:31 PM
So much misinformation
So much misinformation. There are fewer babies available to adopt because abortion is legal AND because there is no longer a stigma to having a child or of wedlock. There are also many places in the world where babies are left out to die - namely China and India, where female babies are frequently unwanted and left out to die. There are now many more boys than girls in some part of the world. Why doesn’t a journalist know this?
(6) Anonymous, July 3, 2019 8:15 PM
Male author has no right to tell women what to do.
The author's first name is Jeff so I assume he is a man. I feel strongly tbat women should decide re abortion. Men can take responsibility by using contraception and following up with sexual partners. We cannot judge what the mother of that baby went through.
(5) Anonymous, July 3, 2019 6:59 PM
I learned a lot!
I had always heard people only wanted healthy while babies. Sooo glad to learn otherwise. Also I didn't know about the shortage of babies to adopt because of abortion. I guess that is why people are adopting internationally.
(4) Rachel, July 2, 2019 11:47 PM
Adoption is not always wonderful
I have gone through life knowing I am a mistake (my birth mother gave me up at birth.). My adoptive parents expected perfection and were ill equipped to care for adopted children. The bottom line is that the only person who should make the decision about pregnancy is the pregnant woman.
Yoni, July 3, 2019 2:08 PM
Food for thought
What if the pregnant women is ill equipped to make decisions? What if the decision she makes disagrees with decision that G-d has already told us?
From a Torah perspective, while abortion is not completely a black and white issue, in the vast majority of instances it’s forbidden. While I truly sympathize with your difficult situation, the answer cannot be to murder babies. So I would suggest that this tremendously monumental decision be left to G-d, not to any human including the pregnant woman herself.
Nancy, July 3, 2019 6:58 PM
To commenter Yoni
You have stated that abortion is not completely a black and white issue. Therefore, we cannot paint every situation with such a broad brush. The decision to terminate a pregnancy or carry it to term is extremely private.
Rachel, July 3, 2019 10:45 PM
What does “leave it up to G-d” mean?
First, I want to clarify that abandoning a baby to die is a tragedy and possibly a crime.
Second, regarding abortion, why should Jews care what non-Jews choose? The laws of Noach do not address abortion. As for Jews, a child of adultery is not a Jew.
Third, while there may be women who are not in a competent to make a good decision, that should be dealt with on an individual case basis.
Finally, and addressing some other commenters, my comment was specific to the column printed on Aish I am not miserable, dwelling on the past, nor complaining that life is not fair. Born before Roe v Wade, my birth mother may have had no choice but to carry her pregnancy to term, and at that time, out-of-wedlock children were considered a disgrace. I respect women who give up children for adoption, who raise their unexpected children if they have the ability to do so, or to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. I am disturbed that this is once again being cast as an issue that should be decided by society for all individuals.
Klaudya, July 4, 2019 4:08 AM
To Rachel:
Rachel, you stated that your adoptive parents were not equipped for adopting kids, that they wanted perfection... I think that unfortunately, some birth parents are not equipped to be parents as well, is kind of a lottery if you will. Regarding perfection, many parents want perfection, it may not be because your were adopted.
I was raised by my mother's family, (my mom passed away when I was 1 year old) and I received affection and good education, but.. I was mischievous as a child and as a teenager a bit rebellious, so my aunts/uncles were not that fond of me. I felt very lonely at times, But I don't keep resentment against them,looking back, I think all of them did the best they could. raise a child is a difficult task, and raised another person's child is even more difficult.
Yoni, July 4, 2019 5:24 AM
Leaving up to G-d means...
Rachel,
Leaving it up to G-d means to make ones worldview subservient to G-ds word as codified in the Torah. In this instance, if abortion is forbidden, then there’s not much room for argument. Certainly we can always try to understand the reasoning, but G-ds word is law.
Second, if abortion is considered murder then that is certainly one of the seven Noahide laws. Even if abortion is not tantamount to murder, the morality of society at large is important. We live and raise families in this society and we would like whatever morality is left to remain.
Third, anyone born to a Jewish mother, whether in a traditional family unit or even if unfortunately out of wedlock is 100% Jewish.
Once again, I truly sympathize with the situation that you were faced with through no fault of your own. However, religious people have a right and I believe an obligation to speak up and say unequivocally what we believe to be right and what is wrong. And therefore I say abortion out of convenience is wrong and should be illegal!
Nancy, July 4, 2019 3:36 PM
To commenter Yoni
Making abortions illegal will cause poor, desperate women to try and terminate a pregnancy on their own. Do you REALLY want a woman to die trying to do this? Do you want to see even more abandoned babies? This decision is a PRIVTE matter!!
Shoshana, July 6, 2019 7:44 PM
The woman is responsible.
To Nancy,
Why is no one talking about the thousands of women who get pregnant every year by sleeping around Irresponsibility?? Why can't anyone force them them to own up to their choices? They did NOT get pregnant by mistake! Maybe instead of investing all that money to the pro-abortion, give out contraceptives for free and teach girls and boys how to take them??
Why does the unborn child who is alive and well have to deserve to die because of her parents stupidity??
The least we can do is to give him to a loving family who will bring him up. Not to assist his parents with murdering him.
Nancy, July 7, 2019 11:26 AM
To Shoshana
I agree with you re: making contraception widely available and free or at least low cost. Unfortunately that will be happening less and less frequently in this climate. However, it takes TWO to create a baby. Where are the men in any of these scenarios? Why aren't male contraceptives readily available? The birth control pill has been around since 1960 and other methods of contraception before then. Men only have condoms as their option. Why isn't there a pill available for them? BOTH parties need to step and take responsibility if they plan to be sexually active.
Shoshana, July 7, 2019 9:17 PM
But...
With all that I am still against abortion.
Both partners should own up to their act. If they can't raise the child, give him to someone would, don't kill him.
If this would be the only option, then there will be far fewer "accidental" pregnancies.
It is just a consequence for their actions. Not discrimination.
Rachel, July 4, 2019 6:36 PM
Torah and abortion
The Torah permits abortion in some circumstances. The Torah also instructs Jews about how to live in hundreds of principles. As a Jew, I do my best to follow them. But I have neither the right nor the wish to tell others that they, too, must worship as we do nor lead their lives as we do.
Judaism, unlike some other major religions, does not try to convert others. If we seek to criminalize acts that are the subject of disagreement even amongst ourselves, we are in danger of being no better than societies which have oppressed Jews in the past and today.
Clifton, July 3, 2019 4:56 PM
God bless your birth momma
Just because you may dwell on your misery does not deny the will of G_d. May he bless you and your birth mom.
It is no wonder that 78% of those identifying as Jewish in a gallop poll believe abortion is ethical.
May you be blessed with a better appreciation for G_ds love for you and May you have it for self as well.
Cheryl, July 3, 2019 5:00 PM
Thank you Rachel for reminding us that life is not always fair. Everyone thinks they have an answer that will make problems like this go away, but the problems of being an unwanted, unloved child just don't go away so easily. Fortunately for this baby, she was born strong and healthy. At some point her adoptive parents, even if they are saints (I know, Jews don't have saints), will face having to tell her the circumstances of her birth. I hope that it all has a good outcome.
(3) Rina, July 2, 2019 11:47 PM
Terrible
This is a beautiful baby, and the main problem here is that it is a throw away society, and human life is not valued. All people want to do, besides religious Jews, or other religions...so I hope anyways, is to basically escape thru drugs, drinking, and sex. Why do you think there is an opiate crisis? And that crisis is the majority white, upper class to very wealthy people. I guess life is tough on them too.
(2) Tami, July 2, 2019 2:24 PM
What hurts the most
What hurts the most watching this video is that the child did not ask to be brought into the world, yet with no choice of her own was disposed of like trash because the adult (who is supposed to make decisions on her behalf) decided that for her. The child had no choice and no voice. In a time where there are laws that you can leave a child at any hospital or fire station, no questions asked, how could someone stoop so low and throw away a human life as if it were common trash? I don't care what the parent's situation was. There is no excuse.
Nancy, July 2, 2019 2:34 PM
To commenter #2 Tami
Yes, an adult is SUPPOSED to make decisions for any minor child. However, in the case of many infants who have been abandoned, the mother herself is a minor. If we are dealing with someone under the age of 18 who has delivered a baby, can we always expect that good, sound judgment will be shown here? No, I am not letting anyone off the hook. I am just looking at the situation from another angle. And no, I personally would never abandon a new born under any circumstances.
(1) Nancy, July 2, 2019 11:14 AM
A lot to unpack
There are many complicated reasons why a woman or a young girl would abandon a new born. This was a well written article and it is clear that abortion is something which upsets you greatly. However, in your advocacy for adoption you have overlooked something. The reasons for abortion are more complicated than people think. None of these options are simple and straight forward. With all my heart, I would NOT want to return to the olden days where young unmarried pregnant females are shamed and hidden away until they deliver their babies. I also resent seeing people at Planned Parenthood harassing patients. Btw--Mr. Jacoby although you and I disagree politically, I think you are a fine writer. I have a lot of respect for your viewpoints.