John Piper's Blog Rocks!

I just hopped over to JP's blog and got stuck reading for hours. I couldn't stop.

I cannot be as pro-adoption as I am without being vehemently and passionatly against abortion. Abortion and Adoption, as social issues, are locked as links of a chain. I think often people say "Yes, I am pro-life and adoption as option for those who have found themselves in unplanned situations", almost as if the two issues are seperate. I believe it goes so much deeper than this. God calls us to be a voice for those who cannot speak, for the fatherless, for orphans. An aborted baby is all three of those. I forsee this post being a little scattered because I haven't been able to gather my thoughts before typing. So bear with me because I couldn't gather; I am too moved by what I have read and listened to in the last hour to try to scrape together my scattered mind. Read this for example (taken from a link on abort73.com):
Abortion, by the numbers, is a racist institution. That's not to say that all or even most of those who support abortion are racists. Nor does it imply that there are no racists among those who oppose abortion. This statement has nothing to do with agendas or intent. It has everything to do with the simple, undeniable reality that in the United States, abortion kills minority children at more than 3 times the rate of non-Hispanic, white children. The rate is even worse for black children. The Reverend Clenard H. Childress calls this phenomenon "black genocide", and has built a national ministry around the exposure of what he calls "the greatest deception [to] plague the black church since Lucifer himself"...

Lest you feel these claims are an exaggeration, consider the numbers. According to the most recent census data, black women make up 12.3% of the female population in America, but account for 35% of all U.S. abortions – that according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The Guttmacher Institute (AGI) puts the percentage of black abortions at 37% of the U.S. total. Similarly, AGI tells us that Hispanic women account for 22% of all U.S. abortions, though they make up just 12.5% of the female population. Compare those numbers to non-Hispanic, white women, who make up 62.6% of America's female population(1), but account for only 34% of all U.S. abortions.


Abortion is eliminating minority children in the United States at a staggering rate.
Every day in America, an average of 3,315 human beings lose their lives to abortion. Based on the percentages above, 729 of those babies are Hispanic, 1,127 are white, and 1,227 are black. Not only are black children being killed at a far greater percentage than white children, they're being killed in greater numbers, period. Is that not shocking?! Though the white population in the U.S. outnumbers the black population five to one, abortion kills more black children than white children, every day.


I am left speechless. How is this happening and why are people not outraged by what is essentially a genocide? We are often asked why we decided to adopt transracially. Aside from the sheer fact that we just wanted to be parents, in the beginning our reason was very simple: we knew it was what God was calling us to. We didn't necessarily have any specific reasons. We did know that black children are always harder to place than white, making the need for families to parent black children much greater than that for a white baby. The average wait time proves that. A couple will wait years for a healthy white baby, but a couple waiting for a black baby will wait mere months. So we went into transracially adoption feeling like we were meeting an obvious need while ministering to a mom who needs us.

Nearly 4 years after submitting our paperwork for our very first adoption attempt, reading articles like this do nothing but solidify God's call on our family. Our call now goes way past "meeting a need" in the community. Reading that 1/3 of black babies are aborted, and knowing that adoption isn't necessarily something that is considered an option among many, I am led to believe that abortion is the option that women run to when they aren't ready for a baby.

What does this mean to me? How does it apply to my life? I have felt that among Christians, domestic adoption isn't viewed as the rescue of an orphan like international adoption is. Any person who thinks this is more wrong than 2+2=5. I define domestic adoption as a partnership between souls. While I have only met one of our birthmoms, we have partnered with all three of them to stared death in the face, we have struck down Satan's tool of death in abortion, and have given three kids life. WE did that; it wasn't just Scott and I but it involved one other very brave mom. Our birthmoms went against the flow of this society, a culture who values life so little, and selflessly gave 9 months of her life so that one may live. She valued life so much that morning sickness, loss of jobs, rejection from family, whatever was the end result, was viewed as worth the price knowing that her child would live. Then, to take it even a step further, she chose adoption. Our birthmoms didn't care if their families were angered by their choice, didn't care what friends thought, didn't care that they were possibly viewed as unloving; all they cared about was the life growing in their womb. And as a family, we stand beside these women while we all proudly snatch a baby from death's hand. Domestic adoption is so much more than the rescue itself. It is the partnership between souls who may never meet, but whose goal is the same: to give life.

I have said it before and will say it again: MY BABIES WERE NOT OPTIONS! It kills me to think that any number of people may have looked at our birthmoms and said "You have options." Ugh. Just ugh. It makes me ill. So I'll send out a challenge to wrap it all up: if you have ever thought about adoption transracially do not let any person stand in your way. I have heard countless people say "I couldn't do it because my grandparents wouldn't approve." I hate to say it, but who cares what grandpa thinks? Grandpa isn't around forever anyway. I know that sounds uncaring and all, but, well, I am not known for my tact. We didn't ask a single family member what they thought of our decision. When it came down to it, we knew immediate family thought it was great, and that was all that mattered. And in the end all of our grandmas and grandpas love our kids to pieces. So to my 3 or 4 readers (haha) be open. That is all I ask.

I almost didn't watch this video. I am so glad I did. I also now love Nick Cannon :)