Reflecting upon this, I was reminded of the incredibly crass comments by the late Richard Crossman MP in the House of Commons in 1970, when he was Secretary of State for Social Services:Changes in societal attitudes and the effects on adoption
16. From the peak of nearly 25,000 in 1968, the annual number of adoptions has fallen steadily, and only 3,450 children were adopted in 2011-12. This decline in numbers reflects the changing purpose of adoption over recent decades. During the peak years of adoption, 51% of all adoptions were of babies, and 92% of adoptions were of 'illegitimate' children.[10] Changes in societal attitudes, coupled with the improved availability of contraception and the legislation on abortion[11], along with increases in financial support for single mothers, have reduced the number of children being given up for adoption. This means that very few children under 12 months are adopted—only 70 babies were adopted in 2011-12.[12] There is, however, the potential for many more babies to be adopted: at 31 March 2012 there were 3,670 looked-after children under 12 months for whom a local authority had decided that adoption would meet their best interests; when and if a placement order is secured, these children may be placed for adoption.[13]
10 Professor N V Lowe, Cardiff Law School, written evidence
11 The Abortion Act 1967 came into force on 27 April 1968. Nearly 190,000 abortions took place in England and Wales in 2011 compared with 22,332 in 1968 https://www.wp.dh.gov.uk/transparency/files/2012/05/Commentary1.pdf
12 Statistical First Release, Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2012, Department for Education, 25 September 2012: http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001084/sfr20-2012v3.pdf
13 HL Deb, 8 January 2013, WA3 [HL4259]
"[T]here has been a great increase in the number of abortions performed and that 20,000 illegitimate children would be alive today—with all the consequences of that—if it were not for the Act ... I have no doubt whatever that the result of the Act as it is at present being administered is socially beneficial."So the evidence suggests that:
- the government of the day believed that it is "socially beneficial" and preferable that unborn children be killed rather than be reared outside of marriage
- some of the fall in the numbers of infants available for adoption is because of abortion
- abortion and contraception have not solved the problem of large numbers of infants being taken into care
- there is a continuing prejudice against adoption
- many infants are candidates for adoption but are not adopted, even though there are large numbers of couples (often infertile) who are very keen (even desperate) to raise a child.
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