An e-mail:
Bravo on mentioning the once-common institution of adoption. I had an out-of-wedlock child back in the late 1960s, and she was placed for adoption through Catholic Charities in Pittsburgh. I stayed at Rosalia Foundling Home and Maternity Hospital, and those nuns were wonderful to us (in those days there were such places, and they did great work). I’ve always thought it a bit odd that the only choices anyone has recognized in subsequent years are abortion or single-parenthood. Sure, adoption was hard. It tore my heart out for a while. But you know there are lots of things in life that tear your heart out. I can’t imagine that trying to raise a child by yourself as a teen-aged single mother doesn’t present you with an endless succession of them, and they go on for years.
In regard to the Foundling — there are still such places, thank goodness.