Precious, innocent babies continue to be one of the best grifts for big government socialist sickos. Here’s the latest example, from a report by Lea Skene at AP News:

New parents in Baltimore could get $1,000 if voters approve ‘baby bonus’ initiative

A group of Baltimore teachers is asking voters to approve a program that would give $1,000 to new parents in the hopes of reducing childhood poverty starting from birth.

The ‘baby bonus’ will appear on the ballot for city residents in November, after supporters secured the necessary 10,000 signatures to bring the question to voters.

…

Organizers behind the Baltimore campaign say more systemic change is needed on a national level to help lift families out of poverty, but giving new parents a modest financial boost could prove an important first step.

…

An estimated 7,000 children are born in Baltimore each year, so the program would cost about $7 million annually, which is roughly 0.16% of the city’s annual operating budget, according to supporters. The initiative won’t result in higher taxes, but it will be up to Baltimore’s City Council to allocate funds if it passes.

What could possibly go wrong with handing a chunk of cash to any woman who decides to get pregnant and birth a baby? Seems obvious and rhetorical, but apparently not obvious enough to the Democrat voters with whom we’ve all got to contend.

And, what’s even more offensive is this is the very work that crisis pregnancy centers do all the time, on real donations instead of confiscated taxpayer money—yes, the same CPCs that are constantly demonized, prosecuted, and persecuted by the progressive Democrats. These charities counsel these mothers, meet their financial needs, get them through school, help them find stable homes and jobs, and sponsor baby showers.

As Skene reports, there are around 7,000 children born each year in Baltimore, and bases the cost of the hypothetical program on that figure—but Maryland is also an abortion free-for-all, permitting the procedure through all stages of gestational development, often at taxpayer expense; from a mayoral press release just one year ago:

Today, Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced that the City of Baltimore, in partnership with the Baltimore Civic Fund, will invest an additional round of grant funding toward nonprofit organizations providing abortion and abortion care services.

And this, from February of this year:

Governor Wes Moore today announced two major investments to improve access to abortion care statewide. In addition to the Moore-Miller Administration's FY 2025 $5 million allocation to increase Medicaid provider reimbursement for abortion care and reproductive services, the Maryland Department of Health has awarded a $10.6 million grant to the University of Maryland, Baltimore, to administer Maryland’s Abortion Care Clinical Training Program.

With a $1,000 cash incentive now on the table though, in a state that hands out food stamps, rent subsidies, Medicaid, and every other type of welfare under the sun, why wouldn’t that birth rate now go up? The decision to undergo an abortion is almost always motivated by self-interest, so why wouldn’t abortion-minded women now choose to keep their babies, at least until birth when they can collect the cash payment, then hand the child over to state services? Maryland has a Safe Haven law that allows women to surrender their baby, no penalties, and no questions asked.

Will drug addicts exploit this program, handing over drug-addicted and disabled children? Gee, I wonder. And, who’s going to pay for that child, including all that extra care?

The socialist grift, using children as a commodity, never ends. The government will either pay you to murder them, or they’ll pay you to birth them, and you don’t even have to take care of the kid, instead handing your child over to social services, each of whom rakes in a serious bounty from state and federal agencies (even more so if this child has health issues from a drug- or alcohol-addicted mother).

Also, are illegals included in this? They’re included in everything else, so why wouldn’t they be? Now, they can have their anchor babies, acquire citizenship, and get paid handsomely (considering all the handouts together) to do so.

Oh, and for the sake of not leaving low-income mothers out, this handout would go to every single mother, even the ultra-wealthy.

Assuming this is merely a $7,000,000 program is utterly ludicrous.

This is all socialism, because socialism is a redistribution of wealth, largely from the earners to non-earners. Leftists really can’t help themselves—if you can count on them to do one thing, it’s to steal your money and blow it on stupid government initiatives that don’t work as they’re ostensibly intended to, destroying America as it once was, and further bankrupting us all.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.