Adoption has been in the news recently in light of the December 1 oral arguments before the Supreme Court in the Dobbs case involving Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. Opponents of the ban insisted during oral arguments that the Mississippi law represented an undue burden on women and should be struck down as unconstitutional under the Roe and Casey legal precedents.
The burdens identified were both the burdens of pregnancy and the burdens of parenthood. Justice Amy Coney Barrett raised questions regarding the availability of the adoption in the Unites States as a way to mitigate against the “burden” of parenting imposed by pregnancy. It was a narrow legal question that made perfect sense given the line of argument. (If you’ve not listened to the oral argument yourself, I’d be careful with what you read.) She has been chided, through extremely uncharitable interpretations, as having suggested that making an adoption plan for one’s child was an easy decision without complication and heartache for all involved.
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