‘Abortion vs. Adoption’

In the 18th Century, Jonathan Swift made “A Modest Proposal” to the people of Ireland that the poor sell their excess babies to the rich as a culinary delicacy. In the 1970s the Argentine military took the newborn babies of their political enemies, killed the parents and distributed these babies to their childless supporters for adoption.

In the light of such, I suppose the program of the religious right to deny abortion to women who want it (generally young, poor, vulnerable) and allow their babies to be adopted by those more fortunately situated is relatively generous. Now let us hope in the true spirit of our capitalist economy that the invisible hand will cause the supply of adoptable babies to match the demand (in make and model).

ELAINE HAMILTON

Pasadena