Pronatalism in Adoption Seeking: Characteristics of Contemporary Women in the US

In a pronatalist society such as the US, motherhood is often framed as the expected next step in a series of normative milestones after marriage and financial stability. Adoption is one of the areas where evidence of pronatalism can be observed because the desires and decision-making around becoming a parent, which are generally private in biological reproduction, are more explicit and visible. By analyzing the demographics of adoption-seeking women in the US we gain insight into pronatalism in twenty first century society and how it is impacted by a variety of factors. Through this study we learn that women who are challenged to procreate biologically, either due to infertility or because they are partnered with other women, were more likely than fecund and heterosexual partnered people to seek to adopt. Married women, women cohabitating with a man, and women with higher levels of education were more likely to seek to adopt. Finance, race and ethnicity, and religion had varying levels of impact. As the first analysis of adoption seeking to include comparisons involving sexual identity and cohabitation, this study provides insight into the pervasiveness of pronatalism as women in a variety of relationship types take steps to become mothers through adoption.