LONDON (AP) 鈥� formally apologized Thursday for the British state’s role in , a practice that lasted for decades until the 1970s.
He said in Parliament that 鈥渨e are deeply and profoundly sorry鈥� for what he called a 鈥渟tain on our history.鈥�
An estimated 185,000 babies of unmarried mothers were adopted in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976. Campaigners have fought for years for acknowledgment that women were pressured, deceived and threatened into giving up their babies.
Starmer met Thursday with a group of campaigners, who watched from the public gallery of the House of Commons as he delivered the apology.
He said that women were 鈥渃oerced, bullied or misled into feeling that they had no choice but to have their children taken away from them.
鈥淐hildren grew up believing they were unwanted鈥� and mothers were told 鈥渢heir babies would be better off without them,鈥� he said.
鈥淭o each and every one of those affected, we say a deep and heartfelt sorry,鈥� said Starmer, who is his .
Alongside the apology, he announced support for affected mothers and children, including better access to adoption records and mental health support.
Apology follows others from Scotland, Wales and Church of England
Britain is one of several countries reckoning with the legacy of social norms, religious practices and government policies that heaped shame on unwed mothers, hid them away in institutions while pregnant and took their children to be adopted by married couples.
After Starmer spoke, several lawmakers in the House of Commons made emotional speeches about their own experiences.
Sarah Pochin of opposition party Reform UK choked back tears as she said that her mother 鈥渨as pressurized into giving up a baby for adoption鈥� in a process handled by the church.
鈥淚 only found out after her death 鈥� she carried her secret to her grave,鈥� added Pochin, who said she managed to find and contact her brother after considerable effort.
Ann Keen, a former health minister whose baby was taken for adoption in 1966 when she was 17, said the apology was part of 鈥渂eing released from my shame.鈥�
鈥淲e need this apology, because we have always been accused of giving up our babies, and we didn鈥檛 give them up,鈥� she told the BBC. 鈥淲e鈥檝e now got the opportunity to really put this wrong right.鈥�
In 2022, Parliament鈥檚 Joint Committee on Human Rights said the British state should apologize for 鈥渢he pain and suffering caused by public institutions and state employees that railroaded mothers into unwanted adoptions.鈥�
The semiautonomous governments in Scotland and Wales issued apologies the following year, but the Conservative U.K. government at the time declined to follow suit, saying that 鈥渢he state did not actively support these practices.鈥�
But Starmer said forced adoptions were the result of 鈥減ractices embedded within systems鈥� across local government, religious institutions and the health and social care systems.
鈥淭he state bears responsibility for the systems it funded and legitimized which enabled these practices to occur,鈥� he said.
The apology from Starmer鈥檚 Labour Party government comes two weeks after the for its role in forced adoptions.
Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally said that 鈥渨e are profoundly sorry for the pain, trauma and stigma experienced 鈥� and still carried 鈥� by many people because of historical adoption practices in homes affiliated to the Church of England.鈥�
Other countries have also apologized for forced adoptions
The three decades after World War II have been labeled the 鈥淏aby Scoop Era鈥� in the U.S., where more than 1.5 million infants were surrendered for adoption between 1945 and 1973. An untold number of their mothers were sent away to before giving birth.
In 2013, Australia鈥檚 then-Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, delivered a landmark for the country鈥檚 history of forced adoptions and the 鈥渓ifelong legacy of pain and suffering鈥� it had caused.
Ireland has been reckoning with the legacy of run by the Catholic Church, in which tens of thousands of women were housed in often degrading conditions. An inquiry found in 2021 that 9,000 children had died in 18 mother-and-baby homes during the 20th century.
Prime Minister for the 鈥減rofound and generational wrong鈥� visited upon mothers and their babies who ended up in the institutions.
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