In the pro-life community you hear a lot about the number of babies that have been aborted. Indeed, the numbers are astounding. Over 54 million children have been murdered in abortion since Roe Vs. Wade. Over 3,000 babies will be murdered today, around 10 in the time it takes to read this post. And those numbers are just in the U.S. However, there are other numbers we don’t talk about as much as we should.

According to The US Department of Health and Human Services, 101,719 children were waiting to be adopted in the US last year. Of those waiting, a little over 52,000 were actually adopted. The numbers aren’t as large, probably because so many choose abortion, but the need is still there.

Last Tuesday, while the focus of the nation was on an immovable Congress, a moving story about an orphan boy was published online. The story of Davion, 15 years old, who boldly went to a church to ask someone to adopt him.

In church, Davion scanned the crowd. More than 300 people packed the pews. Men in bright suits, grandmoms in sequined hats, moms hugging toddlers on their laps. Everyone seemed to have a family except him. Davion sat beside Going, his caseworker from Eckerd, and struggled to follow the sermon: something about a letter Paul wrote. “He was in prison,” said the Rev. Brian Brown. “Awaiting an uncertain future … ”

The preacher spoke about orphans, how Jesus lifted them up. He described an epidemic, “alarming numbers of African-American children who need us.” Then he introduced Davion, who shuffled to the pulpit. Without looking up, Davion wiped his palms on his pants, cleared his throat, and said: ”My name is Davion and I’ve been in foster care since I was born … I know God hasn’t given up on me. So I’m not giving up either.”

According to the article, Davion said he’d take anyone. “Old or young, dad or mom, black, white, purple. I don’t care. And I would be really appreciative. The best I could be.” As of the publication date no one had stepped forward to adopt him.

A wise friend once posed a question to me on the correlation between abortion and adoption. “How can we beg these women not to abort if we don’t also take up the cause of adoption?” She was so right. If we truly believe we can end all abortion, then we must also address the fact that many of those children will end up orphans. Does that mean that we each should adopt a child into our home? I don’t think everyone is called to that, but I do think we must champion the cause of adoption as much as we work to end abortion. Not only does that mean giving time and money to worthy adoption agencies, such as Bethany Christian Services (who also helps women with unplanned pregnancies) and people who are stepping forward to adopt (shameless plug for great friends currently adopting), but it also means we need to take a closer look at our laws and opinions regarding adoption.  With so many children in need, are you really going to tell them an older single woman cannot adopt because she doesn’t fit the perfect criteria you had in mind?  And what about after adoption?

A recent Reuters investigation exposes the very dark side of adoption disruption.  To summarize, families in the US are using the internet to re-home children they’ve adopted from oversees when they can’t make their new family situation work. While the Reuters post would leave one thinking that the parents are simply awful people, as is usually the case, individual circumstances tell another story.  For example, some children fail to attach to their new family despite all the parents’ efforts.  In some cases, the adopted child poses risk to the other children in the home.  What then is the family to do?   The lack of laws regarding follow-up after adoption has left countless children exposed to situations far worse than the orphanages they left.

These are the issues plaguing the world of adoption right now and, for those on the left, excuses to terminate life.  But we know better.  We’ve seen the amazing stories of people who’ve come from less than ideal circumstances, like Babe Ruth, Michael Oher, Ella Fitzgerald and Dave Thomas. We stand for life and adoption is a vital part of bringing up the next generation of Americans.