§67.5. Adoption deception

            A. 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:

            (1) The person knows or should have known that she is not pregnant at the time the payments were requested or received.

            (2) 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 in an effort to adopt the same child.

            (3) The person has the specific intent to make false representations to induce the payment of living expenses or other benefits in connection with a purported adoption placement.

            B. Any person who commits the crime of adoption deception shall be punished as follows:

            (1) If the amount received by the person is one thousand dollars or less, the person shall either be fined up to five hundred dollars, imprisoned for not more than sixty days, or both.

            (2) If the amount received by the person exceeds one thousand dollars, the person shall either be fined up to five thousand dollars, imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than five years, or both.

            C. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to a person who agrees to an adoption plan agreement and subsequently, in good faith, declines to proceed with the prospective adoption in favor of parenting the child.

            Acts 2021, No. 464, §1; Acts 2022, No. 736, §1.