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Because of the fall of Roe v. Wade, we’re hear­ing a lot more about adop­tion as an alter­na­tive for women who find them­selves with an unwant­ed preg­nan­cy. And even before, media por­tray­als of adop­tion have always paint­ed it as an easy eth­i­cal con­clu­sion to a dif­fi­cult cir­cum­stance. But the real, lived expe­ri­ences of birth par­ents who give up their chil­dren for adop­tion have nev­er been part of the con­ver­sa­tion. Do birth par­ents real­ly see adop­tion as an alter­na­tive to abor­tion? Are they hap­py with their deci­sion to relin­quish their chil­dren? It turns out that for the most part, they’re not.

We talk to Saman­tha Gon­za­lez, a birth moth­er, and Gretchen Sis­son, author of the book ​“Relin­quished: The Pol­i­tics of Adop­tion and the Priv­i­lege of Amer­i­can Motherhood.