Couple’s ‘We will adopt your baby’ sign accidentally sparks hilarious memes

After the US Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v Wade – which legalised abortion throughout the country nearly 50 years ago – both pro-choice advocates and anti-abortion protestors took to the streets on Friday to contend with a post-Roe reality.

As thousands of protestors gathered outside the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, one couple celebrated the court’s decision by proudly holding up a sign that read: “We Will Adopt Your Baby”.

Similar signs crafted by smiling couples circulated on social media as well, with anti-abortion activists proposing a seemingly simple solution to a problem that faces millions of Americans now that access to abortion has become restricted, or outright banned, in roughly half of the US.

But as The Independent columnist Victoria Richards pointed out: “Adoption is not the opposite to (or a solution for) abortion.

“‘Forced birth and subsequent relinquishment benefits neither the biological parents nor the child’, as one powerful adoptee voice put it. It’s also worth noting that on any given day, there are more than 420,000 children in foster care in the US. Why haven’t these kids been adopted by evangelical couples who are seemingly oh so keen?”

Many critics echoed a similar sentiment, and shared some hilarious memes to prove it.

Social media users took to Twitter this week to mock the anti-abortion advocates, with memes pairing the statement “We will adopt your baby” with pictures of couples who seem less than nurturing and have questionable parenting skills.

One meme showed Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump ominously staring out a window, while another showed the infamous Dursley family who forced Harry Potter to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs.

Another user posted a picture of the evil Other Mother from the children’s movie Coraline, who tried to sew buttons into her daughter’s eyes. And, of course, the parents from Stuart Little, who decided to adopt a mouse rather than an actual child.

The Supreme Court issued a ruling on Friday in a Mississippi case, which challenged a state law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The case – Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization – was a direct challenge to the precedent established by Roe v Wade in 1973, and reaffirmed by 1992’s Planned Parenthood v Casey.

The ruling has already eliminated abortion access across more than half of the US as states are left to determine their own laws on banning abortion, including 13 states with so-called “trigger” bans – laws that go in effect once Roe is overturned.

These “trigger” laws banning abortion have since become active in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri and South Dakota, while others are expected to take effect within 30 days of the decision.

There are also nine states that have pre-Roe laws banning abortion, which were introduced prior to the 1973 ruling but have not yet been enforced. States that were blocked in their attempts to pass unconstitutional bans on abortion are expected to challenge those rulings now that Roe has been overturned.