Imagine that you just got married and you are trying to start a new life. You have had your life planned out since you were little and your main goal in life is to have kids and a family. It has been a year since you have been married and the doctor tells you that your wife cannot get pregnant. Although this is unfortunate, you turn to your next best option, adoption. The only problem is, that in order to adopt you need to bid on an infant and you don’t have the money available. You know that you will be a loving parent but there are so many wealthy people who keep offering more money and receiving the child. This is a very prevalent issue in America where “about 135,000 children are adopted in the United States each year” (“Facts About Adoption”). Many adults in the world want to adopt children but there are not enough infants to fit these needs. Some people believe that paying the birthmother and buying a baby should be acceptable but others see that this will not always provide the best possible life for the child. We, as people, have a duty to make sure that the kids are appointed their inalienable rights and do not lose their pursuit of happiness, by abolishing the act of child selling.

If mothers were allowed to sell their children for adoption, then the likelihood of them making bad choices would increase because their morals could be blocked by the blinding concept of money. When the selection of adoptive parents is based solely on who bids the most money, the biological parents are not able to make sure that the people assigned to raise their baby are best suited for the responsibility. In society, there will always be those who lack the skills necessary to succeed and therefore are desperate for money. Getting pregnant and having a baby requires no education and if we allowed the selling of kids then women could make money off of childbirth. The problem is that these women are unaware of the high probability of an emotional attachment, and putting the child up for adoption is harder than they think. Adoption is a very difficult and traumatic experience that should not be taken lightly.

After girls decide that they are not suited to raise their baby and that giving up their child for adoption is the right thing to do, accepting money for the baby could make them guilty and lead to them regretting their decision. Another problem with this scenario is that poor people get taken advantage of. Those who have a baby may feel the need to sell it because they need the money and those looking to adopt will not be able to because they do not have the funds available. The wealthy people who pay to adopt an infant will metaphorically start putting price tags on babies and treating these newborns as objects. The final negative aspect would be the detrimental effects on the lives of the children when mothers decide to get pregnant on purpose because they need the money.

Each of these problems with baby selling has negative effects on individual lives and draw to the fact that paying for children is morally and emotionally wrong. It is often the case that the process of giving a newborn up for adoption is strenuous, and the emotional bond between the mom and baby can never be completely severed.  Because this is typically the case, when girls accept money in the adoption process it only adds to the feeling that they made a mistake. To most of these birthmothers, giving up their child is similar to death in the sense that they will never see their own offspring again and they be devastated. Although this is a difficult process, they have choices and options available to them that poor people do not have. The huge demand for infants creates intense competition among adopters. When cash is added to this process poor people get kicked to the side and lose the opportunity to adopt due to their position in society. This should not be an aggressive process and by taking away the incentive of money, biological parents would be more likely to pick the people who will most likely provide their child with a loving family and teach him/her good morals. Low-income parents would also feel less pressure to give up their child when there is no exchange of money in return. Just because adults are not affluent, doesn’t mean that they are not suited to raise a family. In fact, some of the closest families are the ones who have the time to get close to one another and many rich families don’t have this opportunity because of the demanding jobs that accompany the title. 

When these rich families are allowed to buy children for adoption they will eventually turn the bidding system into one where you pay the most for the best genetically engineered baby. It is inhumane to pick-and-choose what you want your kid to be like just as it isn’t possible for us to tell God what we want our child to look like when we give birth. No one should feel that they have a right to say that one baby has a higher value than another because aren’t we “all created equal?” When girls start to see people selling children for high wages many will purposely get pregnant with the hope of making money. The emotional connection that we discussed earlier will most likely kick in and this will leave many girls who were in need of money in the first place struggling to raise a little one. The government will probably end up supporting these women and the baby will grow up without a father figure and lacking the opportunities necessary to go to college all because of the choices his/her mother made at an early age. Getting pregnant and deciding whether or not adoption is the right choice is a complicated decision to make but impacts the child’s life tremendously.

Some people may say that when girls decide to get pregnant and sell their baby it is beneficial to both sides since it increases the overall happiness of the biological mother when she acquires money and the adoptive parents when presented with a child. This is a very one-sided belief because they are not considering what the birthmother has to go through when giving up her child for adoption. Another argument is that it doesn’t matter if poor people can’t afford to adopt because the wealthy people are the ones who will be able to best provide for the child. This is true to an extent, but no one has the right to tell people they can’t have a baby just because they aren’t rich. As long as they raise the child well and teach him/her the manners needed to get through life then chances are that these children are going to be just as eager to be successful and make a change. Adoption needs to be a toll-free process where the welfare of the baby is all that matters.

Baby selling is corrupt and making sure that children are placed in the right homes is an important process that should not involve money. It is emotionally draining when you are physically unable to have your own child and adoption should be a stress-free procedure which benefits both the lives of the adoptive parents and the minors. People all need to have the right to own a child and their place in society should not be what is holding them back. Vending a child is not an option a mother should have available due to the fact that it almost always harmfully effects both the mom and her baby. To make sure that the child is handed to a loving family and will have the best possible life it is essential that we abolish the immoral idea of purchasing a child.
Works Cited
“Facts About Adoption.” POV. PBS, n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.