What scares me is how the ‘birth parents first’ attitude wraps around the political spectrum. I see it quite a bit in feminist circles (i’ve been thinking about this in particular recently), either in terms of the effect on birth mothers or, for international adoptees, cultural issues. You hear quite a few people in womens’ rights tout the strength of the maternal bond between biological parent and child, which isn’t any different from what MacDonald proposes. Ever since lifers started promoting adoption as the alternative to abortion, i’ve seen those on the pro-choice side tear into adoption for the sake of opposition. In terms of culture, saying an adoptee is better off with their ‘racial’ culture, whatever the hell that means, is pretty much identical to ‘stick with your own kind’ arguments.

In any case, i’d argue that arguments from either the right or left have no personal quarrel with adoption. It’s just that adoption just so happens to interfere with a political agenda, whether it’s gay marriage or anti-imperialism or whatever. Adoptees get thrown under the bus just so any idiot with a soapbox can make a point. That’s what i think’s the worst: we’re just collateral damage. We don’t fucking matter to them.