Buying Babies & Selling Sanity

Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) should look into purchasing sanity rather than babies. Sen. Patrick’s SB 1567 provides $500 to women choosing adoption over abortion. He claims the bill provides pregnant women “incentive” that can influence their decision away from abortion.

Here's a bit of the relevant text from the actual bill:

Sec. 50.001. ADOPTION INCENTIVE PROGRAM. (a) The
department shall develop a program to encourage pregnant women to
place their children for adoption rather than have an abortion.
(b) The program must include a $500 payment to each woman
who is a resident of this state and a citizen of the United States
who places a child for adoption rather than have an abortion.
Sec. 50.002. APPLICATION FORM. (a) The department shall
develop an application form to be used by a woman who applies for
funds under this chapter.
(b) The department may only distribute the application
forms to abortion providers.
Sec. 50.003. APPLICATION. A woman requesting funds under
this chapter must apply for the funds on the form developed by the
department not later than the 30th day after the date the child is
born.
Sec. 50.004. PAYMENT OF FUNDS. (a) The department shall
process each application for funds under this chapter to determine
whether the woman is eligible. If the woman is eligible for funds,
the department shall make the payment to the woman not later than
the 60th day after the date the woman's parental rights are
terminated.
(b) Section 25.08, Penal Code, does not apply to the grant
or acceptance of money under this section.

Sen. Patrick’s bill is bizarre to say the least. He treats this difficult decision as if it were as trivial as deciding where to get an oil change or purchase a car. This issue cannot be treated like deciding between dealer incentives and rebates at a car lot. These are decisions with life-long implications, and to boil it down to a $500 incentive is foolish.