POLITICO Nightly: The post-Dobbs adoption thud

 

BY JOANNE KENEN There isn’t good data to compare adoption rates pre-and post-Dobbs, but even when better data does come in, it may be hard to interpret. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images VOILA, YOU’RE ADOPTED — The conservative Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade , several of whom are adoptive parents themselves, made adoption seem like a clean and easy alternative to abortion, a snap of the reproductive finger. So far, it’s not turning out that way. “The idea that there was going to be a huge spike in adoptions is the wrong mindset,” said Ryan Hanlon, president and CEO of the National Council for Adoption. Anecdotally he’s heard of a few adoption agencies seeing increases, but it’s not the norm. During oral arguments in the Dobbs case, Justice Amy Coney Barrett argued that widespread access to “safe haven laws” — which allow someone to anonymously drop off a newborn at a place like a hospital or fire station — created an alternative to raising a child. Writing for the majority in the Dobbs opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said, “A woman who puts her newborn up for adoption today has little reason to fear that the baby will not find a suitable home.” As the liberal justices noted in their dissent, the court majority paid scant attention to the physical and emotional experience of going through an entire pregnancy, going through childbirth, and then giving the baby up. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the court, the emphasis on adoption overlooks the consequences of forcing women to make that choice. “That itself is a monumental decision,” she said. Of course adoption can be the best choice, for parent, child or both. There are couples who long for a child; there are children who need a safe, secure and loving home. Many of us know people who built their families that way and who are thriving. But adoption is difficult. Often very difficult. And the reality is that most people faced with an unplanned pregnancy, up to 90 percent according to some studies, don't opt for adoption — even in these days when obtaining an abortion is increasingly difficult or nearly impossible in ever larger swathes of the country. Most women who consider adoption seriously enough that they contact an agency or lawyer to gather information and even start the counseling process, end up choosing to parent the child, said Hanlon. For a whole lot of reasons — including that some state abortion restrictions are still bouncing in and out of the courts — there isn’t good data to compare adoption rates pre-and post-Dobbs . Even when better data does come in, it may be hard to interpret because the recent pandemic years were so atypical anyway . Several reproductive health research and advocacy groups as well as organizations and lawyers in the adoption field contacted by Nightly agreed there was no big increase. NBC similarly checked in with some adoption agencies and didn’t find a national spike. Even in a clinic that did see in increase in Texas, where most abortions were halted even before the Supreme Court ruling, NBC noted it was hard to tease out how much of the rise was because of abortion limits and how much was because adoptions were abnormally low in the prior few years because of Covid. Contrary to the image that many people may have of “unwed mothers,” most people who have unintended pregnancies are in their twenties or older and already have kids, said Deb Guston, past president of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, who practices in New Jersey where abortion is still legal. These people may not have wanted another child. They may not have wanted another child right now — although some will end up welcoming an unanticipated pregnancy. They tend to be low income, with fewer resources. Sometimes, Guston noted, a woman wants to give a child up for adoption but the father may oppose that. Other family considerations come into play. When a woman can’t get an abortion and is unable, for whatever reason, to proceed with adoption, “It ends up being forced parenthood for that parent and it changes the whole trajectory of their lives,” said Margaret Swain, an attorney who specializes in adoption and who was also a nurse, with experience in labor and delivery as well as in IVF. “And I think that’s what the legacy of Dobbs will be,” Swain said. “Not that there will be a slew of adoptions.” Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author on Twitter at @JoanneKenen .   JOIN 7/26 FOR A TALK ON THE NEW ENERGY ECONOMY:  Join POLITICO's lively discussion, "Powering a Clean Energy Economy," on July 26 at 5:15 PM ET. We'll explore the effectiveness of consumer-targeted policies to boost sustainability and create clean energy jobs. How are the Inflation Reduction Act's provisions faring? Which strategies truly sway consumer behavior? How are advances in technology shaking things up? And, what's the future for energy consumption reduction? Hear from featured speaker Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), among other experts. Don't miss this insightful event — REGISTER NOW.     WHAT'D I MISS? — Trump says he’s received a target letter from special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 investigators:  Donald Trump said today he expects to be indicted by special counsel Jack Smith’s Jan. 6 grand jury , citing a “target letter” he received from investigators on Sunday. Such a letter “almost always means an arrest and indictment,” Trump, who has already been criminally indicted twice in recent months, wrote on Truth Social. Trump said the letter, which is prosecutors’ typical precursor to a charging decision, offered him a chance to speak to the grand jury, which meets at the federal courthouse in Washington D.C., later this week. Targets of criminal investigations rarely speak to grand juries, and Trump has not exercised that right in the two other criminal cases in which he’s been charged. — American who crossed North Korean border was a U.S. soldier:   An American who crossed the border from South Korea to North Korea without authorization today is a U.S. soldier. The crossing and presumed detention of the American, who has not been named, was announced this morning in a tweet from American-led United Nations Command in the Korean Peninsula. “A U.S. National on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Line into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” U.N. Command tweeted today. “We believe he is currently in DPRK custody and are working with our KPA counterparts to resolve this incident.” U.N. and U.S. officials did not provide a reason for the soldier’s crossing. — Schumer looks to swat down ‘toxic’ issues that could torpedo Pentagon bill:  The Senate’s top Democrat is urging both parties to reject proposals that could tank annual defense policy legislation , days after the Republican-led House passed its own version loaded with far-right amendments targeting abortion and diversity programs. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made the plea as the Senate gears up to consider its version of the National Defense Authorization Act this week, which he and other leaders aim to pass before Congress leaves for its August recess. The push from Schumer comes after Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans narrowly passed a defense bill last week that rolls back Pentagon abortion access policies, surgeries and hormone treatments for transgender troops, and diversity programs in the military. Nearly all Democrats opposed the legislation. NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 BACK TO DELAWARE   — President Joe Biden will make his longtime residence of Wilmington, Del., the headquarters of his 2024 campaign , he announced today. “My family’s values, my eternal optimism and my unwavering belief in the American middle class as our nation’s backbone comes from my home — from Delaware,” Biden said in a statement. “That’s why there is no better place for our reelection campaign to have its headquarters.” It’s a departure from Biden’s choice of Philadelphia for his 2020 campaign headquarters. But because of the pandemic, Biden helmed a significant portion of that run from Wilmington as well. As vice president and senator, Biden was well-known for often taking the train from Washington to Wilmington to spend downtime at home. Biden’s campaign has remained relatively small since its launch, adding three new hires earlier this week for a total of seven staffers. RNC CLARIFIES — The Republican National Committee clarified today that its criteria for presidential candidates to qualify for the debate stage is ever so slightly higher than news outlets had interpreted . The committee confirmed that candidates have two paths for hitting the polling criteria in order to qualify for the first primary debate next month. They could hit 1 percent in three RNC-sanctioned national polls, or they could hit that mark in two national polls combined with two (not one) state-specific polls. The confusion stemmed from the wording within the RNC’s debate qualifications. The criteria read that to score an invite to the debate stage, candidates need either one percent in three national polls or “two national polls and 1% in one early state poll from two separate ‘carve out’ states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina) recognized by the RNC.” The RNC’s clarification means that six candidates are now just one more poll away from qualifying for the debate stage. Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie and Tim Scott all hit one percent in a pair of polls released today that, in POLITICO’s tracking, meet the RNC’s debate qualifying thresholds. AROUND THE WORLD Alberto Núñez Feijóo's conservative Popular Party is on track to become the largest group in the July 23 election. | PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP via Getty Images GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION?   — A controversial history of cozy relations between frontrunner Alberto Núñez Feijóo and a notorious drug trafficker burst back into life during Spain’s election contest, threatening to dampen the opposition leader’s campaign for victory ahead of Sunday’s vote, writes Aitor Hernández-Morales . Feijóo’s conservative Popular Party is on track to become the largest group in the July 23 election, if opinion polling proves accurate — an outcome that would herald a sharp change in direction for Spain after Pedro Sánchez’s five years of socialist rule. But during a rally in Madrid on Sunday, far-left candidate Yolanda Díaz brought up the friendship Feijóo struck up with Galician narco-trafficker and money launderer Marcial Dorado during the 1990s and early 2000s. “Feijóo had an intimate friendship with one of the biggest drug traffickers in the world,” said Díaz, who challenged the Popular Party leader to join an upcoming debate to “tell Spaniards about his relationship with drug trafficking.” BIG SWING  — Russia has gathered 100,000 troops and is attempting to break through Kyiv’s defenses in the Kharkiv region , according to the Ukrainian army, writes Veronika Melkozerova . With Ukraine focusing its counteroffensive efforts on the southern front, Moscow’s forces have been probing Kyiv’s defenses in the east, in the direction of Kupiansk, Ukraine’s Army Command East spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi said during a national telethon Monday. According to Cherevatyi, Russia has gathered some 100,000 troops, 900 tanks and 555 artillery systems in the area. Kupiansk, a city in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, was a crucial logistics hub and supply route for Russia’s invading forces in the east, until Kyiv recaptured it during its counteroffensive last fall. Ukrainian Army Land Forces Commander General Oleksandr Syrsky confirmed Russia has concentrated its forces to attack in the Kupiansk direction, but thus far has been unable to break through.   UNLEASH THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE WITH POLITICO, A 7/20 INTERACTIVE EVENT: Imagine a future where rare genetic diseases are not only treatable, but potentially curable. Where our approach to chronic illness takes a monumental leap forward. That future is already taking shape in the form of next-generation health care treatments such as gene therapy. Join POLITICO on Thursday , July 20 and delve into the burgeoning field of gene therapies, which hold the power to redefine our health care landscape. Are you ready to explore this new frontier in health care? Don't miss this chance to be part of the conversation. REGISTER NOW .     NIGHTLY NUMBER 65 The number of Republican candidates for the House who raised $500,000 or more in the second quarter , compared to 40 Democratic candidates. That’s a stark contrast from this point four years ago: In 2019, about 30 Republicans crossed that threshold, compared to 50 Democrats. The question now is whether the GOP can keep its momentum through next November as it competes with presidential candidates for donations. RADAR SWEEP THE SCIENCE OF EARWORMS  — What causes earworms, the tunes or songs that crawl into your mind, sometimes even without any audible stimuli ? Scientists aren’t entirely sure why we get songs in our head, but they suspect that something about the mental architecture of our brains allows musical patterns to emerge and play over and over. “Our brain is made up of a massive complex network of neurons that store information, and when the mind is free to wander, it may unwittingly land on a song that has been encoded through recency and repetition,” says Emery Schubert, a researcher and professor at the University of New South Wales. “In fact, composers and artists who write songs intentionally build repetition into their music to boost the odds of creating an earworm.” Scientists call earworms involuntary musical imagery, or INMI, because they burrow into our heads uninvited and without warning, Amy Paturel reports in Wired magazine. PARTING IMAGE On this date in 1980: Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan is joined by his running mate George H.W. Bush and former President Gerald Ford on the stage of the GOP convention in Detroit. Reagan defeated President Jimmy Carter in Nov. 1980, winning 44 states. | AP Photo Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh Katherine Long @katherinealong   FOLLOW US

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