One study found that single teen mothers who chose adoption for their children were as satisfied with their decision as those who chose to parent. Studies have also shown that unmarried young women who make adoption plans for their babies have higher educational aspirations, are more likely to finish school, and less likely to live in poverty and receive public assistance than those who parent. They also delay marriage longer, are more likely to marry eventually and are less likely to repeat an out-of -wedlock pregnancy than those who become single parents.

Of all the options in an unmarried pregnancy, planning for adoption is chosen the least often. On a national scale, only 2% of unmarried women who carry their babies to term make adoption plans. Perhaps if more women were presented with a comprehensive, biblically-rooted view of adoption, they might choose it over abortion or single parenting. A birth mother who made an adoption plan shares her thoughts:

I was single, no prospects of marriage. I thought about where I would be in 10 years, looking back. Would I rather look back on a life that began and then abruptly ended? Or, would I want to look back on a life that I knew still existed, even if I had no part in it? I could make something positive out of something negative.

I wanted my baby to have a mother, a father, and lots of love. I was in no position to offer that. I knew I couldn't end it's life, but I also knew that I couldn't give it anything more than that- life. But I did know that there were people out there who could. Adoption as a solution to my problem pregnancy seemed the first and the best choice. My baby has loving parents, grandparents and cousins. She has love and affection and everything I knew I couldn't give her and desperately wanted her to have.

As this birth mother has pointed out, adoption can be a blessing to a birth mother facing an unplanned pregnancy. Not only can the child be fully supported and cared for in a more stable environment with two loving parents, but the birth mother can rest assured, knowing that her child is well taken care of. It is also an answer to the prayers of so many couples who cannot have their own children. Not only are these couples emotionally, relationally and financially stable, but they have been waiting and hoping for a child. That is not even the case for many two parent families that I know that have children as a matter of course.