# Adopting an aborted baby



## Nebrexan (Apr 21, 2009)

"A California couple signed adoption papers ... so the husband could adopt his wife’s two previously aborted children and give them his last name."

The World’s First Posthumous Adoption of an Aborted Child?


----------



## Montanablue (Apr 21, 2009)

My first thought was "How bizarre," but then I read the article. I'm actually really touched by her husband's gesture. I used to work at a crisis pregnancy center that had a program for post-abortive women, and it was very very rare to find supportive husbands or boyfriends. Most of them wanted nothing to do with their wife/girlfriend's coming to terms with what they had done and going through the grieving and healing process.


----------



## Webservant (Apr 21, 2009)

You can't adopt an aborted baby any more then you can baptize one. I don't mean to seem cold or uncaring, but this is futile at best.


----------



## Montanablue (Apr 21, 2009)

I think the point is more to acknowledge the baby's existence and personhood. Women grieving for an aborted baby have a very difficult time of it, because so few people will even acknowledge that an aborted baby was a person. Women are told that their baby isn't worthy of their grief and that they should not feel guilt over the part they played in their child's death. A concrete action affirming the baby's existence and personhood can really help an abortive mother to (a. grieve for the child she lost and (b. repent of her part in that loss.


----------



## SolaScriptura (Apr 21, 2009)

While on the one hand I see what Rich is saying, my emotional side overwhelms my rational faculties: I think this man is doing a very gracious and compassionate thing - not for the dead, but for his wife.


----------



## Grace Alone (Apr 21, 2009)

Hmmm, it might be a compassionate gesture, but you cannot adopt a child that is no longer living. So I think there must be a better way.


----------



## Edward (Apr 21, 2009)

It strikes me as a somewhat Roman thing to do.


----------



## PuritanCovenanter (Apr 21, 2009)

It would be better just to acknowledge sin and move on as King David did in Psalm 51 after having murdered his faithful soldier Uriah...



> Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
> (Psa 51:12)
> 
> *Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.*
> ...


----------



## Montanablue (Apr 21, 2009)

SolaScriptura said:


> While on the one hand I see what Rich is saying, my emotional side overwhelms my rational faculties: I think this man is doing a very gracious and compassionate thing - not for the dead, but for his wife.



Right - I probably should have clarified that obviously this doesn't mean anything for murdered child - that's in God's hands. Its just a symbol of the baby's existence and personhood for the mother.


----------



## py3ak (Apr 21, 2009)

I think it's a good idea; it seems like the sort of gesture which may help people feel that abortion did, in fact, destroy a human person.


----------



## OPC'n (Apr 22, 2009)

I think it has everything to do with healing. Obviously, the husband knows that he doesn't have adopted children. Not everything has to be done with a biblical slant. Many of us listen to secular music which has nothing to do with biblical stances. This guy was doing it out of love for his wife. Many couples who have miscarriages name their child and bury it with a full service. Obviously, they didn't baptize that child either....then again the thief of the cross wasn't baptized. I think it is a great idea! These babies were humans too!


----------



## Webservant (Apr 22, 2009)

py3ak said:


> I think it's a good idea; it seems like the sort of gesture which may help people feel that abortion did, in fact, destroy a human person.


Fine, as long as the gesture led to the realization of the sin and drove her to Christ for forgiveness and healing, and was not seen as somehow righting the wrong of what was done. I can't question his or her motives... it's obvious that she is sorry for what happened.


----------



## LawrenceU (Apr 22, 2009)

If the court allows it then they are affirming the fact that an unborn child is a person legally.


----------



## kvanlaan (Apr 22, 2009)

> If the court allows it then they are affirming the fact that an unborn child is a person legally.



I wonder how long this sort of body of evidence will build up before someone can take it and run with it. That is, if this guy can adopt two previously murdered children and thereby give them 'human' status, and if a man kills a pregnant woman and is sentenced for two murders, how much more of that sort of thing will it take before we can do something with it to get laws overturned?


----------

