Skip to main content

We are urgently seeking 500 new Life Defenders (monthly supporters) before the end of October to help save babies from abortion 365 days a year. Your first gift as a Life Defender today will be DOUBLED. Click here to make your monthly commitment.

Live Action LogoLive Action
birth mother, adoption

Woman sues Oregon for rejecting adoption application over beliefs about transgenderism

Live Action News - Human Interest IconHuman Interest·By Nancy Flanders

Woman sues Oregon for rejecting adoption application over beliefs about transgenderism

An Oregon mother is suing the state after it rejected her adoption application because she would not vow to transition the hypothetical child experiencing gender dysphoria.

Jessica Bates, a widowed mother of five children, felt called to adopt after hearing the story of a single father who had adopted a child. Hearing his story on a Christian radio station, Bates said she felt a “really strong nudge in my spirit.” She heard God tell her, “These are my children.”

“It was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t see that coming,'” she said, “but I feel like I need to do something.”

According to the lawsuit, state officials at the Department of Human Services denied her application because she said her Christian faith informs her that gender and sex aren’t a choice, and that she would be unwilling to use pronouns that don’t align with a child’s biological sex or allow a doctor to give the child hormone injections.

Her attorneys from Alliance Defending Freedom argue that Bates’ First Amendment rights have been violated.

“Pronouns and words that you use, those carry a message,” said ADF attorney Johannes Widmalm-Delphonse. “In this case, they’re forcing her to affirm the message that you can choose your gender, and that gender can be different from your biological sex, which violates her religious beliefs, but it also compels her to speak a message that she disagrees with.”

Bates had been hoping to adopt a pair of siblings under the age of nine and the “state never balked about anything to do with my situation” as a widowed mother of five. She had provided all of the necessary information proving her financial stability, work history, and background check and had taken the necessary adoption training.

But when Barnes learned during her training that she was expected to display “symbols indicating an LGBTQ-affirming environment” and “pictures and posters of diverse people who are known to be LGBTQI2-S … and families with same-sex parents” as well as participate in “LGBTQ community activities,” she raised her concerns. She emailed a state adoption official about the requirements.

Dear Reader,

Every day in America, more than 2,800 preborn babies lose their lives to abortion.

That number should break our hearts and move us to action.

Ending this tragedy requires daily commitment from people like you who refuse to stay silent.

Millions read Live Action News each month — imagine the impact if each of us took a stand for life 365 days a year.

Right now, we’re urgently seeking 500 new Life Defenders (monthly donors) to join us before the end of October. And thanks to a generous $250,000 matching grant, your first monthly gift will be DOUBLED to help save lives and build a culture that protects the preborn.

Will you become one of the 500 today? Click here now to become a Live Action Life Defender and have your first gift doubled.

Together, we can end abortion and create a future where every child is cherished and every mother is supported.

“I don’t know how many children there are out there under the age of 9 who fall into this category (and to me it’s kind of crazy that society is wanting to get kids thinking about this stuff at such young ages; I think we should let them keep their innocence), so this may not even be an issue,” she said in the email. “I have no problem loving them and accepting them as they are, but I would not encourage them in this behavior. I believe God gives us our gender/sex and it’s not something we get to choose.”

The adoption official asked Bates if she would take a child to receive hormone injections for gender transition, and she said she would not because she considers it to be child abuse. She was told soon after that she would not be allowed to adopt through the state of Oregon.

“A family that hunts need not give up meat eating because some children are vegans. And Jews need not accommodate foreign gods because some children desire a home with a Hindu shrine,” reads the lawsuit.

“It’s only when people have views on sexual orientation and gender identity that disagree with the state’s views that Oregon has a problem and excludes people,” Widmalm-Delphonse said.

Bates said she hopes to continue her adoption process and that Oregon will change the policy.

“Oregon’s policy makes a sweeping claim that all persons who hold certain religious beliefs — beliefs held by millions of Americans from diverse religious faiths — are categorically unfit to care for children,” said Widmalm-Delphonse. “That’s simply not true. Oregon is putting its political agenda above the needs of countless children who would be happy to grow up in a loving, Christian home like Jessica’s.”

Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 people with the truth about abortion that no one else is telling them? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.

Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.

Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.

Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!

Read Next

Read Nextabortion, abortion pill, mifeprex
Abortion Pill

Washington state says its stockpiled abortion pills will expire soon

Carole Novielli

·

Spotlight Articles