Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018
Floor Speech
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Madam Chair, I rise in support of my amendment No. 156.
Over the past 25 years, infant adoptions have decreased, and only about 1 percent of pregnant women choose adoption. While there are approximately 2 million couples waiting to adopt in the United States, there were only 18,329 domestic infant adoptions in 2014.
Unfortunately, too many women who have encountered unplanned pregnancies report not receiving adequate information about adoption.
Everyone facing an unplanned pregnancy should have access to timely, accurate, and noncoercive information about adoption that helps them make their own fully informed decision.
In 2000, Congress authorized the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program. This program awards grants to adoption organizations to train healthcare workers who offer health services to expectant mothers and are trained to provide adoption information and referral.
In the year 2000, the program annually delivered training to an estimated 10,000 healthcare workers nationwide. This program was phased out in 2010.
This bill funds adoption awareness programs at $39.1 million. My amendment designates $5 million of that funding to restart the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program with the goal of ensuring that expectant mothers have access to timely, accurate information about adoptions.
I also support the administration's effort to fund activities to improve hospital-based adoption support services for our expectant mothers. I urge them to continue this hospital-based program to ensure that mothers who wish to make an adoption have access to comprehensive support throughout the entire adoption process.
Adoption is a bipartisan issue, and it is vital that individuals who are providing health services to expectant mothers are trained to properly provide adoption information and referral.
Madam Chair, I urge adoption of this amendment.
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Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman. I do share her concern. That is why we are asking for $5 million of the $39.1 million be used to give expectant mothers the opportunity to learn fully and make a decision based on what they want to do. It is about education. It is about making them fully aware.
But this is about adoption. This is not about anything else. This is not about taking anything away from anybody. This is about giving them the opportunity to understand the options that they do have in an unplanned pregnancy.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the gentlewoman's comments. What this is really about is 2 million couples willing to adopt children in the United States. It is hard for me to stand here today and say that it would be a much different world if people were really given the opportunity to understand what their options are and be able to fulfill the wishes of over 2 million couples in the United States who are looking to adopt a child. I think that is incredibly important, and I don't understand why we couldn't look at something like that and say this is about adoption. That is all it is about.
Now, this is fully endorsed, by the way, by the National Council for Adoption.
At this time, I would also offer my condolences to Ms. DeLauro for the loss of her mother. She is a fine lady, and I am sure that, no matter what, she will look back on the years she spent with her mother and cherish every one of those.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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