On May 26, 2013, Asher Martindale was born by Cesarean section. The very next day he died from a rare genetic disorder. His parents, Justin and Lindsey Martindale, knew about his disorder before he was born but said aborting him was never an option.
Now, the Martindales are trying to adopt. To help fund their adoption, they have turned to crowdfunding for help.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution shares more of their story:
Crowdfunding is the practice of paying for a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.
“The increase in people asking on social media for money is a direct outgrowth of the enormous success and publicity of sites like Kickstarter,” said Paul Levinson, professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University, and author of “New New Media,” a scholarly look at new social media, now in its second edition.
“If artists and writers can ask the world for money to do their work, why can’t anyone ask friends and even complete strangers for money to have a child?” Everyone has an urge to be generous at one time or another. These new social media sites allow people to fulfill that urge, which makes them feel good about themselves, any time they like.”
Lindsey and Justin Martindales of Marietta launched their campaign on GoFundMe.com, which charges users a 5 percent fee, deducted from each donation to cover its operating expenses.
So far, they’ve raised $17,750 within three months of starting their campaign in late May.
“I didn’t want people to think we were going to sit back and wait for the money to come in, so we’ve also held garage sales,” Lindsey Martindale said.
That netted the couple $3,000 of their total donations so far. And a silent auction and pig roast held Saturday raised more than $2,000.
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The Martindales said at first they thought financing their dream for a child this way was a bit unconventional. But when they considered they’d gotten an email seeking donations for a dog’s surgery, they thought why not try it.”
Since pro-abortion groups like NARAL have recently advocated for helping women pay for abortions, its good that couples are using GoFundMe for the lifesaving work of adoption.
Adoption can cost anywhere between $15,000-$50,000, which is sometimes burdensome to the families involved. According to the Independent Adoption Center, this is because there are no government funds for a baby voluntarily placed for adoption, as there are for children removed due to abuse and neglect.
However, unlike abortion, adoption is extremely critical for our society. There are many mothers who are unable to care for their children but want to give life to their baby. By financially supporting families who are looking to adopt, we are ultimately helping out birth mothers choose life and moving society closer to a pro-life future.
