Roe v. Wade was passed when I was a freshman in high school. My father immediately began praying in front of the local abortion clinic, where I sometimes joined him. I belonged to my high school pro-life group, so when I became pregnant in my senior year, I knew that abortion was murder and didn't even consider it. Not feeling ready for marriage, my boyfriend and I worked with a local Catholic adoption agency and were able to choose from three couples who met the criteria we preferred in the couple who would raise our child. At that time in our state all adoptions were closed. I always held the hope of one day having contact, to know his name, what his life had been like, maybe receive a photo. Last fall, just before my 60th birthday, his birth father emailed me saying he had contacted him and wanted to contact me as well.
Never did I even imagine the possibility of what has happened since then...nor did he! His intention was just to thank me for not aborting him, but giving him life. I was happy just to hear that he had had a good life, and even happier to learn he was very pro-life and pro-adoption. We exchanged pictures, and three weeks later I traveled to meet him, his wife, and their two children. We felt such a connection that the relationship quickly blossomed.
He and his wife attended the March for Life with me in DC last January. What joy it was for me to stand next to him as he would tell people that I was his birth-mother whom he had just met! We were disappointed that adoption was hardly mentioned in the conferences there, and hope to be able to do something to help remove the stigma and make adoption the positive, loving option that it is!