I wrote recently about a group intentionally tying adoption to anti-abortion issues and how uncomfortable I was with attempts to link the two and give the impression that they are somehow related in deep and indivisible ways.

Today, I'm coming across stories out of Texas that are taking it that little bit further ... far enough to get question marks popping around in my head.

A Texas state senator proposed a plan to pay pregnant women for choosing adoption over abortion ...

State Sen. Dan Patrick said his bill would provide $500 as an incentive to forgo abortion.

Oh, my.

How many levels of not right are there on this idea?

Well ...

First, it assumes that there are two options -- a woman in a crisis pregnancy will either terminate the pregnancy OR relinquish.

Second, it suggests that these two options are somehow equal ... sort of a six-of-one/half-dozen-of-the-other gig that someone could fall either side of.

Third, it's paying someone to have a baby.

Okay, it's not the same as giving money to a woman to conceive, as that part's already taken care of, but it is putting cash into an equation that could look like:

Pregnancy + $500 = baby for adoption

Yikes!

Isn't that math exactly what countries like Cambodia and Guatemala have been hammered for, with nasty terms like "baby selling" tossed around?

This last one is actually against present law in Texas, in that it is, "illegal to offer anything of value to another person for acquiring a child for purposes of adoption." Apparently, there will be some way around this little detail.

Administering the law would make for some interesting logistics, as well. After all, $500 up front could be used to fund an abortion not otherwise afforded. Maybe they'll make everyone cross their hearts and promise not to terminate?

I'm assuming the plan is for the money to be paid out at the end of the pregnancy, when the baby has been produced.

I'm picturing a brand new mother in dire straights having $500 on one hand and her child on the other, the deal being, of course, that she gets the money for not aborting, but only if and when she relinquishes.

Or will Texas be shelling out $500 to every woman who gives birth as some sort of door prize for not terminating her pregnancy?

But then, couldn't any pregnant woman show up at the "money for no abortion window" and insist that unless five hundred buckaroos are handed over she's heading straight for the local abortion clinic? Could it be that $500 might be incentive enough to make the threat?

Perhaps ... and this is just a suggestion ... Texas should put the $500s instead toward the care of foster kids in the state, or up the education budget. Maybe health clinics could use the extra dough. How about single mothers getting a bump in their monthly income or some training or free daycare?

An extra $500 put toward something not tied to a political agenda, but allocated where it could do some real good would be a much better idea than this.