State aims to counsel against abortion Gov. Jeb Bush's proposed hotline would tell pregnant women of alternatives.

Proposed Florida State Program Would Counsel Women Against Having Abortions

Florida Governor Jeb Bush's administration yesterday announced a proposed taxpayer-financed state program that would counsel women with unwanted pregnancies against having abortions, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The $4 million initiative would set up a phone hot line that would direct pregnant women to nonprofit organizations, possibly including some with religious affiliations, that would encourage them strongly to consider adoption and other abortion alternatives. Funding for the program must be approved by the state Legislature.

Lawmakers who support abortion rights and family-planning groups said that although reducing abortions is a positive goal, Bush's plan would give pregnant women a limited view of their options. The proposal to provide tax dollars to promote an effort to urge pregnant women to consider adoption also comes amid conservative support for gag rules that would end federal funds to clinics that present abortion as an alternative.

Supporters say the hotline is needed. Lynda Bell of Florida Right to Life told the Sentinel, "The abortion option is always there, with all the pro-abortion networks. It's about time that we got more government funds to support adoption." But Stephanie Grutman, executive director of the Florida Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, told the paper they give women information about all their alternatives, including adoption. She said, "We would never provide women with one-sided information. That's what the governor wants to do."

I am 100% Pro-Life, I make no apologies for that, I think the goal of the program is laudable(i.e. lives saved). However, I wonder if this is the role of the State. What say you?

Friends,
Below is an e-mail that I just sent to the Orlando Sentinel.
Blessings,
Patte Smith
Sanctuary Ministries

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To: insight@orlandosentinel.com

Adoption is not foster care!

I am so encouraged to learn of Governor Bush's new initiative to provide a hotline for pregnant women in the state of Florida! I have been counseling abortion-bound teens and women for 12 years and continue to be shocked and dismayed by the pervasive ignorance regarding adoption. Most women believe that adoption is synonomous with foster care. Far from it! Many pregnant women believe that they will have to PAY for adoption. Absolutely not! After we educate pregnant women with the real facts about adoption they realize that adoption is ALWAYS the most positive alternative to abortion for them. Why? Because adoption answers the two most common reasons for aborting a pregnancy: money and unwantedness. First, adoption answers the money objection in three powerful and convincing ways. How? #1. Adoption is FREE while abortions in Orlando cost anywhere from $390 for early pregnancy to $14,000 and more for late term. #2. Adoption can provide the pregnant teen or woman assistance with housing and medical expenses through the entire pregnancy and for up to six weeks after the infant is born. #3. With adoption, the woman is relieved of all of the financial responsibility of raising the child she is carrying. Secondly, adoption solves the "wantedness" objection entirely. I routinely have to correct a common misconception about adoption. I want to shout it from the rooftops! "Adoption is NOT foster care!" Adoption offers a PERMANENT loving family for their baby. The pregnant woman can even choose which couple she would like to raise her baby out of a pool of pre-screened applicants at the adoption agency! Randy Alcorn said it best when he wrote: "There is no such thing as an unwanted child, only unwanting adults".
Adoption is a WIN-WIN-WIN alternative! The adoptive couple, the pregnant woman AND the infant she is carrying all benefit from ADOPTION! Let's do everything we can to direct teens and women in crisis pregnancies toward the life affirming alternative of adoption!

Patte Smith
Director of Sanctuary Ministries: Advocates for abortion-vulnerable women and children
349 Lazy Acres Lane
Longwood, Fl 32750
407.830.8274