The Storm Over Orphanages

adoption" -- but not with the cash that might keep mother and child together. Orphanages were not the subject of Gingrich's speech, but they were not a throwaway either. The notion reappeared in the Republican welfare-reform bill (with the inflammatory word orphanages changed to "children's homes"), which is a basis for Gingrich's famous "Contract with America."

It was not a smart move. The news media were quick to note the orphanage proposal's obvious incompatibility with "family values." Hillary Clinton told a New York audience last week that the "idea of putting children into orphanages because their mothers couldn't find jobs" was...