UM Special Edition – When Adoption Is Framed as a Solution - This conversation is not about debating politics. It is about lived experience, accuracy, and accountability. It centers the voices of those most affected by adoption—and asks what the public deserves to understand when adoption is elevated during moments of national influence.

SHOW NOTES: 

A Super Bowl commercial titled Adoption Is an Option ignited strong reactions among people connected to adoption. Positioned as a “third choice” in the abortion debate, the ad presents adoption as moral workaround to the question of abortion. But for many, the message felt incomplete—and deeply unsettling.

In this special edition of Unraveling Me, Kara convenes birth parents, adoptees, therapists, and advocates to examine what happens when adoption is framed as a solution rather than a lifelong reality. Together, they unpack the distinction often overlooked in public messaging: abortion is a decision made early in pregnancy; adoption is a permanent legal outcome to an often temporary problem—a choice that should only occur after carrying a child to term and giving birth.

Kara sits down with a powerful group of birth parents, adoptees, therapists, and advocates:

• Leslie Pate Mackinnon: birth mom, therapist with decades of experience, and board member of Concerned United Birthparents
• Dr. Abby Hasberry: birth mom, adoptee, therapist, and author of Adopting Privilege
• Jennifer Fahlsing: adoptee, birth mom, and co-founder of the National Association of Adoptees and Parents
• Renee Gelin: birth mom and founder of Saving Our Sisters

Together they discuss:

• Why adoption and abortion are not answers to the same question
• What gets erased when adoption is reduced to a “third option”
• The lifelong realities of relinquishment for birth parents and adoptees
• How public messaging shapes cultural understanding of adoption
• Who benefits when adoption is framed as a solution—and who is left out
• What support, resources, and family preservation conversations are missing

Everyone has the right to know the truth about where they come from. Unraveling Me speaks to those people impacted by DNA surprises, NPEs (non-paternal event), adoption, assisted reproduction, and other revelations that their parentage isn't entirely what they thought. Having experienced an NPE herself, Kara (through Right To Know and this podcast) seeks to highlight those moments when we learn the most unsettling of secret—who we really are.

At Right To Know, we encourage engagement to facilitate and create real change. As an organization, we are inclusive. We assist adoptees, the donor-conceived community, people with an NPE, birth parents, gamete providers, new genetic family, recipient parents, raising families, and significant others. In learning and growing from each other, we must put the voices of adoptees, donor conceived, and people with an NPE first.

For more information about Right To Know - or if you have a story you want to tell - please visit us at https://righttoknow.us/.

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