Katha Pollitt

Katha Pollitt is an associate editor and columnist for the Nation, a journal of progressive opinion, and author of Reasonable Creatures: Essays on Women and Feminism. In the following viewpoint, Pollitt asserts that adoption cannot serve as an alternative to abortion. She claims that preventing a woman from terminating her pregnancy is traumatic and dangerous because giving birth to a child has lasting physical, emotional, and social effects upon the mother. Furthermore, adoption should not be promoted as a solution to poverty and unplanned parenthood. Instead of encouraging adoption, Pollitt insists that the United States should follow the lead of similar countries and promote sex education and contraception and provide economic assistance to poor single mothers.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. How does the author support her view that there may not be enough...