GUEST POST: As we end National Adoption Month, I am living proof that adoption is always a better option than abortion — and I mean every time. The abortion lobby likes to counter statements like that with what-if circumstances, but my story proves each one wrong. Here’s what I mean:  

Pro-Abortion Lie #1: Adoptees are Better Off Dead  

Born in Vladimir, Russia, the circumstances behind my conception are unclear. However, given that it was a closed adoption, it’s likely my biological mother was the victim of rape/incest or she just didn’t want my father named. Regardless, I was adopted as an infant along with two other Russian siblings by an American couple.  

I immediately became a citizen, and it’s fair to say life was perfect. My father worked an influential job, and my family loved each very much. We aren’t blood-related, but we care for each other deeply.  

Pro-Abortion Lie #2: People with A “Lesser Quality” of Life are Better Off Dead  

At birth, I was born with congenital syphilis that I contracted in utero from my biological mother, but we didn’t find out my ensuing diagnosis until later in life when my adopted Mom started looking for answers to medical issues I was having. I was finally diagnosed with Hydrocephalus, a disease where the cerebral spinal fluid in the brain builds up in excess. Left untreated, 80% of patients die before the age of three. 

At the point my condition was caught, the disease had started to run on its course, messing with my vision and wiping out my fine motor function. Two weeks after receiving my diagnosis, I had brain surgery to insert a VP shunt to treat the condition. Years of gross and fine motor therapy followed as I fought to regain what motor function I had lost.  

During this time, my parent’s marriage fell apart as there were multiple occasions when my father started to become more and more violent towards my mother. However, he never was physically violent towards us kids. They ended splitting up, and we lived with our wonderful mother.  

Pro-Abortion Lie #3: Single Moms Can’t Be Successful  

At fifty, my mom was a single mother raising three kids, aged seven, eleven, and thirteen. Many people told her she wouldn’t be able to continue to homeschool, be a mom, go back to school, get a degree, work, and support us. Some told her to put us into the foster care system. However, my mother is one hell of a fighter, and she’s stubborn about what’s important to her (I think I got it from her even though I’m adopted). 

After a semester-stint in public school, she continued to homeschool us, went to nursing school full-time, and still provided for us to the best of her ability.  

Pro-Abortion Lie #4: People in Poverty Would be Better Off Dead  

While my mother sacrificed everything for her children and used her LPN license, we still lived below the poverty line for most of my childhood due to not receiving court-ordered child support. It wasn’t an easy life, but my siblings, mother, and I continued to stick together.  

My sister and I agreed that I would work nearly full-time so she could go through nursing school, and when I went to college, we would switch…so that’s what we did. I worked just about full-time throughout high school, and when I became a legal adult, I was able to help my family secure a mortgage and buy our new old house (of which I have joint ownership). 

Throughout high school, I also paid my way through professional vocal lessons. I got into my choice college with a 30,000-dollar scholarship for music, and I’m now grateful to be at Liberty University studying political science.  

Make no mistake about it: life is hard, and my childhood got up close and personal with that fact. However, I do not sit here for one second and think that my biological mother should have aborted me. The reality is everyone faces hardships at different seasons of their lives; potential trauma is not a reason to poison, dismember, or starve a child in utero. As an adoptee, I fundamentally reject the notion. 

I am living proof as I check off almost all the major pro-abortion talking points as to why I would be “better off aborted.” Would I wish my childhood on anyone? No — but if I could undo it, would I? No. My family and I went through hardships, and because of them, I turned out to be a fighter. I’m taking that strong determination, work ethic, and passion I learned from my past to now fight for the preborn.  

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