Adoption/Abortion: Two Sides of One Coin or Two Different Coins? presented by Laureen Harbert, Lis Moriarty, and Damon Davis

The goal of this important and timely discussion is to unpack and challenge:

     1. The way that adoption and abortion are commonly conflated,

     2. The impact this conflation has on those touched by adoption, and

     3. The effect it has on people’s discourse and understanding of these two paths.

This presentation is not intended to discuss the ethical aspects or morality of either abortion or adoption.

About Laureen Harbert

Laureen Harbert is mom to an 11-year old boy adopted as a newborn in Ohio. Both her professional and volunteer work have focused on issues of reproductive justice and sexual health and education, including pregnancy options counseling, abortion care, HIV prevention and care, and adoption education. She has authored numerous medical education and patient education resources and is a co-author of the 2005 edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves. She loves listening to people’s life stories, reading memoirs, being in the community, and connecting with people.  She lives in Minneapolis with her husband, son, and dog.

About Lis Moriarty

Lis received a crash course in what open adoption means when she made an adoption plan after an unexpected pregnancy. Since then, she has spoken openly about her adoption experience and how modern adoption looks in order to change society's perception, reduce stigma, and educate others about open adoption. She serves on the Bellis MN Board of Directors. Lis is an Early Childhood Special Education Teacher, lives with her husband and two children they are parenting together, and is a birth mother in an open adoption since 2004.

About Damon Davis

Damon is an adoptee who was reunited with his biological mother in 2009 in a heartwarming story of coincidental history, a mutual desire to be reunified, and the pure luck to be able to surprise his biological mother, Ann, for our reunion on her birthday! He is a storyteller at heart, who enjoys hearing and sharing the real stories of our lives that make each of us who we are.

He created the podcast, Who Am I Really to help people placed into adoption or who grew up in foster care to explore their own emotions, desires, and questions about reuniting with their biological family by asking others to share their true stories. Damon also wrote a memoir of the same name, published in 2019.

Find out more about Damon and his podcast on his website at: http://www.whoamireallypodcast.com/.