Fox News host Laura Ingraham has opened up about one of the most personal chapters of her life, explaining why she chose international adoption when she decided to become a mother.
The 63-year-old host of The Ingraham Angle, who has never married, is the mother of three children adopted from Guatemala and Russia. During an appearance on The Katie Miller Podcast, Ingraham was asked about her decision to build her family through adoption and why she looked outside the United States.
Ingraham explained that two factors guided her decision: what she described as fewer adoption opportunities in the United States and the significant need among abandoned children in other countries.
Why Ingraham looked overseas
Katie Miller, wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, asked Ingraham whether legally bringing her children into the United States had influenced her personal views on immigration.
Ingraham responded by addressing a question she said she has heard from people over the years: Why travel overseas to adopt when there are children in need in America?
Her first explanation centered on the availability of children for adoption in the United States.
Ingraham said she believes abortion has contributed to there being fewer children available for adoption domestically than there were decades ago.
“Well, the sad thing is, because there’s so much abortion here, there aren’t the kids to adopt here that there was in many decades past. Far fewer. So that’s number one,” she said.
Her second reason concerned children living outside the United States without parents or families to care for them.
“And number two, there is a need internationally for children who are abandoned, who have no one,” Ingraham explained.
She noted that Russia no longer permits adoptions and said she believes one of her sons was among the last children to leave the country through adoption.
A mother of three
Ingraham is the mother of daughter Maria, 21, whom she adopted from Guatemala, and sons Michael, 18, and Nikolai, 16, who were both adopted from Russia.
The Fox News host also noted during the podcast that she speaks Spanish and Russian.
According to the article, Ingraham’s journey toward motherhood through adoption began after she recovered from breast cancer in 2005.
While discussing the distinction she draws between adoption and illegal immigration, Ingraham emphasized that her focus was on providing a home for children who needed one.
“Children are children,” she said, before arguing that legally bringing an adopted child into the United States is different from the dangers she associates with migrant caravans.
“If you can help a child in need who has no one, I think that’s what it’s all about,” she added.
Her comments spark a response
After Miller shared a portion of their conversation on X, some viewers challenged Ingraham’s assertion that abortion was responsible for fewer American children being available for adoption.
One commenter said there was “nothing wrong with adopting internationally” but disputed Ingraham’s characterization of adoption and abortion in the United States. Another asked for evidence supporting the claim that adoptable children are difficult to find domestically because of abortion.
For Ingraham, however, the decision to adopt internationally ultimately came down to the two reasons she outlined: her view of the adoption situation in the United States and her desire to provide a family for children overseas who had no one.
Years after beginning that journey, the Fox News host is now the mother of three grown and teenage children, with her daughter coming from Guatemala and both of her sons from Russia.
