Since Roe v. Wade in 1973, there has been a steep drop-off in the number of children put up for adoption.
The number of babies born and put up for adoption in the United States dropped from 9 percent in 1973, the year the U.S. Supreme Court implemented some of the world's least restrictive abortion laws, to just 1 percent between 1996 and 2002, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That 1973 number included 20 percent of babies born to unwed white women.