Two Hard Things to Read – Hurricane Katrina, and Coerced Adoption
Shotgun Adoption, by Kathryn Joyce, in The Nation. On pressure to relinquish babies for adoption by “crisis pregnancy centers.” Honestly, when I read “The Girls Who Went Away,” I was shocked and horrified but assumed that general kind of tactic was Something That Happened a Long Time Ago. Based on this piece, that’s not so much the case.
Strained by Katrina, a Hospital Faced Deadly Choices, by Sheri Fink, in the New York Times Magazine. On what happened at Memorial Medical Center in the aftermath of Katrina. I haven’t started on this 18-page piece yet, but for sinking-stomach-avoidance reasons, not length. I honestly don’t want to read anything except “these people did the best they could in a terrible situation with the limited resources they had.” As I’ve said before, I have tremendous sympathy and appreciation for medical care providers who must do their jobs in situations of danger and emergency. It’s hard to judge what people did when the United States looked like it did post-Katrina. I may feel differently after reading the piece. I hope not.
Thanks for posting the link about adoption. Too often in adoption women are preying on other women. We need to be united in a stand against the exploitation of women.
Adoption superficially sounds really nice, and before reading The Girls Who Went Away I was in the “support adoption as a pro-life/pro-choice compromise” camp. How awful to know the tactics described in that book (and their heartwrenching effects on women) are still going on, and even seem to be regaining traction.