On May 9, 1960 the USA FDA approved Enovid 10 mg for contraceptive use. Canada approved the pill in 1960 as well.
Please take the time to view the various interviews the CBC did on the pill…(especially the ones in the 1960)..
Some of my favorite clips
“It Means The Women Could“, various people on the street answer questions about the pill – a flashback to the 1964 attitudes.
“Longer interview with Dr. John Rock on the pill and the church” = 1964.
“The pill sparks religious furor” = 1968, this one is priceless.
And remember the attitudes of society back then. Even though the pill was approved it did not mean an unmarried woman would be able to get a prescription or even a married woman.
And this year – Mothers Day falls on MAY 9 – 50 Years to the DAY the pill was approved…
These thoughts have been rambling around in my head and I have been trying to define them but have a hard time because the descriptive words and terms don’t seem to fit or seem inherently wrong to use. If there are better descriptors than I would like to be told. Note I never was great at finding the right word but since the stroke it had become a nightmare to find the right words for what I want to say…so please bear with me.
There are many different categories of adoptees and sub-types within each category, let alone personalities and experiences mixed in.
…closed era domestic adoptee…open domestic adoptee….semi-open adoptee, adoptee from foster care who was removed from their family for abuse, drugs etc…foster care orphan…intercountry adoptee…intercountry transracial adoptee and then you have the different generations and societal differences each generation has lived, reasons for relinquishment or abandonment, as unique sub-types within each the category plus more I have not thought of.
I find myself confused and not even sure if I have the terminology correct (feel free to correct me). What I do know is that each category comes with unique characteristics and even different elements of loss, in addition to the fundamental universal element of being an adoptee – the fact that we grow up in a family we are not biologically part of. What feelings I can easily identify with will be different than what someone else can. Those differences are to be expected and should be accepted and acknowledged. I can try to walk in their shoes in my mind, but that is the best I can do because I have not lived it, so at best it is only a superficial understanding. But what we have in common should allow for common ground understanding between us, but I am feeling more of a division than a coming together and supporting each adoptee, regardless of category or feeling.
I support all adoptees and try not be part of a specific category, just an adoptee. I want to expand my world by knowing how others feel, what challenges them and how they faced them and still face them. I need to understand so I can listen better, so I can comprehend. I want to expand my world of understanding.
But deep down at the end of the day - I am still angry that in my lifetime a better solution has not been found to diminish the need for any of to be relinquished, abandoned, orphaned and have to deal with the fall out of being an adoptee and that it is a life-long sentence. That when I am a senior citizen I will still be an adoptee – that when I die I will still be an adoptee. That I have been labelled my entire life and it has been like having a tattoo of a Big Letter “A” on my forehead. That the demand fuels the supply side to take further actions and when the demand grew too much - they broadened their hunting ground. That there are people in this world who willingly coerce, shame and pursue mothers to place their children to meet that demand. That the people who want to be parents are too willing to overlook all the downright unethical actions staring them in their face when they go through the adoption process. That their need to have a family usually outweighs the rights of those most vulnerable. That they refuse to take off their rose-colored glasses and see the reality of the injustices and the harm to the ones at the core of adoption – the mothers and adoptees – and how their need to create a family feeds into the actions those on the supply side take. Some days I can tolerate the ignorance and try to educate gently. Other days I get too mad. But I do know that I will continue to voice my opinions and tell how it feels to me to be an adoptee…but I can still dream of the day when adoption ends…even if it is only a dream.
Tags: adoptee, adoption impact, biological family, Ethics and morals, Labels, loss
