http://savannahnow.com/node/635309

Promoting adoption as an alternative
Anne Hart | Sunday, December 14, 2008 at 12:30 am

First-grader Amy Bull doesn't know it, but she's the reason many
unwanted babies have been placed in loving, adopted homes.

Amy has Down syndrome as well as heart problems that often accompany
the genetic condition. At age 7, she's already had three open-heart
surgeries.

After she was born, her father, Savannah attorney Birney O'Brian Bull,
knew he needed a job with more flexible hours so he and his wife,
Deborah First, a Savannah College of Art & Design professor, could
care for their special needs child.

They also have a healthy teenage daughter, Betsy.

So Bull quit his job as staff attorney for a local judge and opened
his own practice specializing in adoption law.

Special needs prompt special ministry

Five years later, Bull has made promoting the choice of adoption -
over the choice of abortion - more than just a law career.

Adoption has become his ministry. As a result, he's helped hundreds of
babies and children get legally adopted into loving homes - children
whom may have been aborted otherwise.

Like all ministries, Bull's isn't without some spiritual help. His
assistant for the past year is a nun, Sr. Mary Ann Lang.

She handles public relations and calls from birth mothers who contact
the practice seeking information on finding an adoptive family for
their baby. Bull advertises his practice in the Yellow Pages under
abortion alternatives.

Theirs is a practical form of anti-abortion activism that signifies
more than holding up placards at rallies or protesting abortion
clinics. It's about decreasing the demand for abortion, rather than
focusing on the legislation.

Their goal is for birth mothers facing an unwanted pregnancy to make
an informed decision, to know they have more choices than abortion.
They can, instead, give their child and another family the gift of
adoption.

Nationally, only one percent of unwed mothers chose adoption, Bull
said.

"Ninety-nine out of 100 unwed mothers reject adoption," Bull said.

It's a mindset Bull, who converted to Catholicism in law school, and
Sr. Lang hope to change through their ministry.

A ministry that wouldn't have happened, chances are, had Amy not come
into the world with special needs.

Informed decisions

Bull and his wife learned Amy had Down syndrome before she was born,
through genetic testing.

He and his wife began to educate themselves about living with Down
syndrome, including meeting with a family who also had a child with
the disorder. That uplifting experience showed them not enough
positive things are said to parents upon receiving a prenatal
diagnosis so they can make an informed decision.

Work is under way nationally to change that.

The bipartisan Kennedy-Brownback Pre-natally and Post-natally
Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, passed in October, aims to provide
parents facing a Down diagnosis with better access to support and data
about Down syndrome and inform them of adoption resources.

The law, which also applies to other genetic conditions, was co-
sponsored by Sens. Sam Brownback, an anti-abortion proponent from
Kansas, and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who supports abortion
rights.

Debunking adoption myths

When Amy was born, Bull already had deep-roots in the anti-abortion
movement. He's served as board president of the Savannah Care Center,
a crisis pregnancy center, since 1994.

The center aims to give women enough support so they will choose not
to have abortions.

Opening an adoption law practice after Amy's birth seemed like the
logical extension of that work. Bull is careful to keep a clear
separation between his adoption practice and his involvement with the
crisis pregnancy center. The two are not affiliated.

He doesn't want birth mothers to think of the crisis pregnancy center
as a place that only promotes adoption. The center also provides
counseling, parenting classes and baby products to encourage women not
to choose abortion and helps in crisis pregnancies overall, not just
those at risk of being terminated.

Bull aims to do more to debunk adoption myths that many birth mothers
still have - including that they will never see their child again if
they choose adoption.

Women facing an unwanted pregnancy need to know, that in some cases,
they can select the adoptive parents for their child and opt for an
open adoption. They can see their child grow up.

In an effort to reach more birth mothers and dispel negative
connotations of adoption, Bull is working on tentative partnership
with Savannah Christian Church to promote adoption.

One goal is to hold adoption consecration ceremonies between birth
mothers and adoptive parents before the Sunday church services.

So other birth mothers can see the support for adoption by the entire
congregation.

And possibly turn their unwanted pregnancies into very-much-wanted
adoptions.