In the draft, which was leaked to Politico, Alito references adoption as a reason for abortion to be overturned, using the phrase “domestic supply of infants” to indicate that less abortion would help increase the supply of babies that adoptive mothers are seeking—and that current safe haven laws and other programs allow women to safely give their children up with no repercussions.
Many have picked up on the phrase, as Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was appointed and confirmed to the court in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency prior to his losing the election to President Joe Biden, made a similar argument in December when hearing the Dobbs v. Jackson case addressing Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban. During that time, Barrett, who is an adoptive mother argued that adoption still protects women from forced motherhood and “the choice, more focused, would be between, say, the ability to get an abortion at 23 weeks, or the state requiring the woman to go 15, 16 weeks more and then terminate parental rights at the conclusion,” Salon reports.
Many have since condemned the commentary, comparing it to treating women as cattle for breeding, as well as “The Handmaid’s Tale,” stating that the terminology was also reminiscent of human trafficking.
