UK Prime Minister Issues Official Apology for Forced Adoption of 185,000 Babies Born to Unmarried Mothers

The British government has issued an official apology for the forced adoption of 185,000 babies born to unmarried mothers in the UK between 1949 and 1976.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated in Parliament on July 2 (local time), "What happened to tens of thousands of mothers, their children, and their families should never have happened," adding, "It is a stain on our history."

He continued, "The shame is not yours, it is ours," and apologized by saying, "We are deeply, profoundly sorry."

In the UK, it was a common practice until the 1970s for babies born to unmarried mothers to be forcibly adopted by other families.

In an official investigative report released in 2022, the Joint Committee on Human Rights of the House of Lords and the House of Commons estimated that approximately 185,000 babies born to unmarried mothers in England and Wales were forcibly adopted between the passage of the Adoption Act in 1949 and the implementation of the Adoption Act in 1976.

Many women testified that they were coerced into giving up their children due to the social stigma of being an unmarried mother, and that public sector workers, including National Health Service (NHS) medical staff and social workers, were involved in the process.

The committee pointed out that the state bears responsibility for the way public institution employees treated these unmarried mothers, as well as for the policies and laws of the time that enabled the practice of forced adoption.

In a follow-up report released in March of this year, the committee further clarified the state's responsibility, stating that "the state received assistance in implementing national policy from welfare organizations and religious institutions that operated facilities for unmarried mothers."

Previously, the Church of England had already issued an official apology to the victims.

The Church of England operated approximately 100 facilities for unmarried mothers and their children between 1949 and 1976.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.