Blake and Sarah Thomas, a Virginia couple who went viral after posting a photo on Facebook asking pregnant women not to have an abortion, are planning to adopt an 11-year-old boy from Bulgaria.
The Radford couple were shown in the Facebook post holding a sign that read, “Please don’t abort. We will adopt your baby!” They claim that dozens of women who were contemplating abortions contacted them to let them know that they had decided to continue with their pregnancy. They also say that they referred many women to pregnancy resource centers or adoption agencies.
The Thomas’ decided to post their plea in response to the passage of the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) in New York, a statute enacted on January 22, 2019, that expanded abortion rights and eliminated several restrictions in the state. The RHA allowed abortion "when necessary to protect a woman's life or health” or in the absence of fetal viability.
The couple says that after they posted the photo they were contacted by a pregnant woman and agreed to adopt her baby. The process ultimately fell through after she decided to keep the child, they say. "We believe as Christians that we are called to love and care for orphans," Sarah Thomas told Fox News recently.
They were eventually presented with the opportunity to adopt an 11-year-old boy from Bulgaria. "We recently felt God burdening our hearts for older orphans, specifically boys who statistically are the least likely to be adopted," Sarah Tomas says. "We're so excited to meet him and we're amazed by how God has already filled our hearts with love for this boy on the other side of the world that we've never met."
The couple has a 1-year-old biological son and a 3-year-old son they adopted through the foster care, who they describe as a “blessing and such a joy.”
"God has given us a heart for the fatherless and 3 years into our marriage we were convicted of our selfishness in waiting for children and obeyed God's calling to become foster parents," Sarah Thomas says.
The couple's Facebook post, which was shared 17,000 times, has received a variety of reactions. Some praise the couple for opening their home to children in need of a family, while others have criticized the pair for ignoring the thousands of children available for adoption by focusing on pregnant women and their personal choice. The Thomas’, who often share questionable information regarding abortion, remain undeterred and will continue their crusade against the practice.
RELATED: Same-Sex Couple Adopts Baby Girl With HIV Who Was Rejected By 10 Other Couples
According to the Adoption Network Law Center, a California organization that provides professional adoption services to birth mothers and adopting parents nationwide, of the more than 400,000 children in foster care in the US, 114,556 cannot be returned to their families and are waiting to be adopted. More than 60% of children in foster care spend two to five years in the system before being adopted, while almost 20% spend five or more years in foster care before being adopted and many others are never adopted.