You’ve seen ‘em … and most likely forwarded them onto friends because the e-mail directs you to “pass this on to everyone in your address book” … Yep, we’re talking about Internet hoaxes today.

I’ve learned to run everything in my e-mail box through Snopes.com. In fact, when re-tooling my iGoogle homepage recently, I put the Snopes New Urban Legends plug-in right there for me to see each day.

So, there I was today, and Help My Baby Live was posted as the newest urban legend on my plug-in. It appears that someone is using the adoption v. abortion debate to pull at some heartstrings in hopes of loosening some wallets.

Snopes decries this as a hoax for some telling reasons:

* Some of the "facts" have been altered from earlier urban legends.

* PayPal has shut their link down and refused to host their donations.

* The folks are hiding behind their anonymity. This one is interesting because, though they claim not to have the money to raise a child (and really, who does when we’re young?), they do seem to have the money to purchase a domain name and enough to secure the services of a web-hosting company whose services, “are geared towards those who need the services of a web host or developer, but would prefer not to disclose any personal information. Anonymity is our first priority and we will never ask you to share any information that you wish to keep to yourself. All we need to know about you is whether your bill has been paid. Beyond that, what you do is your business.”

* Read their "Terms and Conditions" manifesto (link on the left hand of their site. 'Nuff said!

Hinky? I think so! It’s really a sad commentary on our times when someone would use the good intentions of others for their own personal gain. Not only that, but to use threats of adoption and abortion to play on the emotions of those who may be experiencing hurt from those very situations.

Could it be true? Sure. But I think someone truly in that position would not hide behind the cloak anonymity. They would go to family and friends to assist. If that isn’t an option, they would turn to a counselor, minister, or someone in the social services sector, before splaying everything on an internet webpage.

Tensions between adoptive and birthparents can be dicey. It angers me that someone would use something like this to paint first/birth parents as mercenary, cool and calculating. It does nothing to engender the fragile trust between these two triad members that one would hope to have in adoption.

With over $13, 000 raised as of this morning (according to their website), I sincerely hope that if this is a fraud, it is exposed quickly.