Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes the crime of adoption deception.

Highlights:

• Establishes any person who is a birth mother, or who holds herself out to be a birth mother, who is interested in making an adoption plan and who knowingly or intentionally benefits from payment of adoption-related expenses in connection with that adoption plan commits adoption deception if any of the following occur (Sec. 1.A):

• The person knows or should have known that she is not pregnant at the time the payments were requested or received; or

• The person accepts living expenses assistance from a prospective adoptive parent or adoption entity without disclosing that she is receiving living expenses assistance from another prospective adoptive parent or adoption entity at the same time to adopt the same child.

• Establishes any person who commits the crime of adoption deception will be punished as follows (Sec. 1.B):

• If the amount received by the person is $1,000 or less, the person will either be fined up to $500, imprisoned for not more than 60 days, or both; and

• If the amount received by the person exceeds $1,000, the person will either be fined up to $5,000, imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than 5 years, or both.

Full Bill Text