Although I had my RB Pepper declawed because I too was very ignorant at the time, I'm againt declawing now. In fact, before I was able to adopt both Sunny or Cirrus, I had to sign papers promising that I'd never declaw them and they also had to be indoor cats only. Many rescue organizations have these rules.
When I adopted Storm from the Humane Society, he also had to be an indoor cat but I don't recall them saying anything about declawing. With Sky I was shocked that he could be an indoor/outdoor cat and he was also from the Humane Society. They also said nothing about declawing. I guess some places are just more strict than others.
I do believe in declawing if the cat needs it for medical reasons such as an ingrown or infected nail. If the choice was to euthenize or declaw the cat, then I'd have to go with declawing the cat even though both decisions are bad ones. At least the cats life would be spared. I too hope that some day declawing will become illegal in America.
So I guess that the answer to your question Jen would be that I would let someone adopt a cat that was going to declaw them if and only if the cat would be euthenized if they didn't adopt it. Otherwise my answer would be no because declawing should only be done as a last resort.
I've unfortunately had the experience of seeing my poor Pepper in pain after this procedure was done.He had to wear a splint on his right paw because he wouldn't walk on it. I know he was in pain. His personality also changed because he became much more shy around people. Here's a pic of Pepper with his splint.
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