CLAIM:
I’m a pro-life Democrat, but isn’t early-term abortion a necessary evil until someone has an answer for what we’re going to do with an extra one million plus unwanted children, considering most of those in our terrible foster system don’t get adopted already?

REBUTTAL:
The first thing we need to do is define some terms and clarify some of the facts:

Pro-Life: The term “pro-life,” as it relates to the abortion debate, refers to those who oppose abortion based on the conviction that life begins at conception and, therefore, we should not legalize the taking of human life.

Democrat: A Democrat aligns with the basic tenets of the Democratic Party, generally in contrast to the basic principles of the Republican Party. It is important to note that the Democratic Party Platform, originally drafted when President Biden was planning to run for a second term, has this to say about abortion:

President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are committed to restoring the reproductive rights Trump ripped away. With a Democratic Congress, we will pass national legislation to make Roe¹This is a reference to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which legalized abortion throughout the entire United States and its territories. the law of the land again…We will repeal the Hyde Amendment²This is a reference to the Hyde Amendment that was passed in 1977 by Congress, preventing the use of federal funds to pay for abortion, except to save the life of the woman or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape.. And in his second term, President Biden will continue to support access to FDA-approved medication abortion, appoint leaders at the FDA who respect science, and appoint judges who uphold fundamental freedoms.³2024 Democratic Party Platform (https://democrats.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024_Democratic_Party_Platform_8a2cf8.pdf accessed 9-25-24)

Necessary Evil: I understand that the question reflects a tension between accepting an early-term abortion (presumably in the first three months), which is fatal to the unborn child from the pro-life perspective, or letting those children be born only to be turned over to a “terrible” foster system in which there are already many unwanted children that don’t get adopted.

Clarity on the Facts

Pro-Life Democrat: In light of the Democratic Party Platform, the phrase “Pro-Life Democrat” would qualify as an oxymoron because the words appear contradictory – like jumbo shrimp. That, of course, is speaking superficially.

Rarely do people wholeheartedly embrace every statement contained within a political party’s platform. To claim to be a Republican or Democrat is understood to mean that a person generally favors most of their party’s positions on the issues. Calling oneself a “Pro-Life Democrat” means that, collectively speaking, the rest of the Democratic Party Platform seems like a better approach to governing the nation.

Early Term Abortion: Because the pro-life position believes that life begins at conception, it therefore means an abortion, regardless of when it occurs in a pregnancy, ends the life of the unborn child.

Foster Care System: Up to 400,000 children are in the U.S. foster care system on any given day.⁴https://www.adoptuskids.org/meet-the-children/children-in-foster-care/about-the-children accessed 9-25-24. A little over 25% of those children are available for adoption.⁵https://www.ccainstitute.org/resources/fact-sheets accessed 9-25-24. While no accurate statistics are tallied, experts estimate that between 1 and 2 million couples are waiting to adopt a child.⁶https://adoptionnetwork.com/adoption-myths-facts/domestic-us-statistics/ accessed 9-25-24. Another interesting fact is that about two-thirds of the children in foster care also have a sibling.⁷https://www.adoptuskids.org/meet-the-children/children-in-foster-care/about-the-children/keeping-siblings-together accessed 9-25-24

Terrible: Because foster care involves institutional and family placement experiences, the outcome is typically directly related to the caliber of the foster care facility and families who take placement of the children. A system of this magnitude will have problems. Anecdotal stories, however, abound on the Internet and in the literature of children coming through the foster care system unharmed and with improved lives. The judgment that the foster care system is “terrible” oversimplifies its complexity.

Analysis

Life is considered a fundamental human right. Terminating any life, therefore, defies this basic principle. By what standard is death (abortion), where there is no recourse once it has happened, a better option than placement in foster care, where if there are problems, they can be addressed?

This line of thinking is dangerous to more lives than just the unborn child. Suppose we reason to terminate the life of an unborn child because it might result in suffering within the foster care system. Would it not logically lead some to justify the argument to terminate the life of the mother who is bearing multiple children who end up in foster care? The fact of the matter is that terminating any life solves nothing.

The problem is with the logic within the question:

1. Not every child in foster care is unwanted. As noted above, nearly 75% are temporary placements and are not available for adoption. Generally, their time in foster care is temporary, and they return to their families.
2. There appears to be more than ten times the number of couples waiting to adopt a child than there are available children, which suggests a disconnect between options available through the foster care system and couples looking for children.
3. Judging that the foster care system is “terrible” is somewhat self-convicting. The United States foster care system has what is referred to as a crisis-level shortage of foster parents.⁸https://americanspcc.org/the-foster-care-crisis-the-shortage-of-foster-parents-in-america/ accessed 9-25-24. Most stable adult Americans could qualify as foster parents, but sacrificing to care more for others would require sacrificing.⁹Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:3–5)

Aborting children at any stage of pregnancy does not fix a perceived broken foster care program. Another consideration for another time would be to consider the long-term detrimental effects of irreversibly terminating 1 million unborn lives annually. Logic would dictate we should address problems that may exist within the foster care system while also providing support services to mothers in such a way that would make taking the life of an unborn child the least desirable of all options.