Tens of thousands of dollars raised from sales of newly authorized “Choose Life” license plates in Texas will go to 13 crisis pregnancy centers and adoption agencies, as part of an effort “to encourage adoption as an alternative to abortion.”

The state attorney general’s office will award a total of $46,100 to the recipients, including $10,000 to the Gladney Center for Adoption and $7,500 to the Houston Pregnancy Help Center, according to a press release sent Monday. The grants are awarded for purposes that include “[m]edia advertising to promote adoption,” “material assistance for pregnant mothers considering adoption,” “adoption training for staff,” and “educational and training materials on adoption.”

The “Choose Life” grants are part of an increasing effort among state lawmakers and bureaucrats to dissuade abortion-seeking Texans from ending their pregnancies and convince them instead to relinquish their children to adoptive parents. State Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. has begun promoting a bill that would require pregnant Texans who consider abortion to take a three-hour “options” course about adoption, in addition to reviewing the state’s mandated “Woman’s Right to Know” pamphlet, which links abortion with breast cancer; undergoing a mandatory ultrasound; and waiting 24 hours between the ultrasound and the abortion procedure.

As the San Antonio Current reported earlier this month, Texas has also diverted some family planning funds into an Alternatives to Abortion program, doling out $36 million to 30 crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) over the last eight years. Writes the Current‘s Mary Tuma:

State and federal investigations show the misinformation is a systemic pattern among CPCs. A 2006 U.S. Congressional investigation found that the “vast majority” of such federally funded pregnancy resource centers under review, “misrepresented the medical consequences of abortion,” and “often grossly exaggerating the risks,” of abortion’s link to cancer, future infertility and mental health effects. NARAL Pro-Choice Texas conducted undercover investigations of their own in 2009, reporting that all the taxpayer-funded CPCs visited repeated the false link between abortion and breast cancer and that 67 percent of centers cited false information about the efficacy of condoms in preventing sexually transmitted diseases.

The attorney general’s office reported that almost 2,300 “Choose Life” license plates have been purchased since Texas state legislators authorized their production in 2011.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, “Choose Life” license plates are available in 29 states, including Hawaii, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Eighteen of those states donate proceeds from the license plates to agencies that promote adoption.