NORTH BRUNSWICK/SOUTH BRUNSWICK SENTINELJanuary 31, 2008
Adoptees could access birth info
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer
SOUTH BRUNSWICK- The state Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee unanimously supported a bill last week that would grant adult adoptees the right to their birth certificates.
Under the bill (S611), an adoptee over 18 years of age or the adoptive parent of a child can request their birth certificate from the state registrar's office. The bill allows a one year leeway for parents who gave up their children before the bill was passed to request not to disclose their information.
Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer) found it to be a difficult, emotional decision as both he and his sister were adopted. However, only his sister had a desire to find her birth parents.
"I am adopted and I see it from many perspectives," he said. "I do believe they have the right to have that information and I believe that passionately."
Sen. Diane Allen, who sponsored the bill, agrees.
"It's important that adults who were adopted have access to vitally important familymedical information," she said. "This kind of information could dramatically affect the quality of an adoptee's life if left undiscovered."
However, Marie Tasy, the executive director of New Jersey Right to Life, believes the bill is unfair because some mothers do not want to be known.
"Advocates [of the bill] don't believe the birth mother should have the right to have this decision," she said. "We are willing to strike up a compromise but the advocates are not."
Pam Hasegawa, an adoptee and member of the New Jersey Coalition forAdoption Reform & Education, believes, "We're compromising by allowing past birth parents to write a request to be honored for their name and address removal."
Mutual Consent Voluntary Registries are also a hot topic. Some states, including New Jersey, give adoptees and parents the ability to find each other if they both want to. They can register at places like the International Soundex Reunion Registry. Information is computerized for each resident, and people are notified of a matching relationship.
Tasy believes that since this is in effect in many states, it should be tried on a national level.
"It's a good idea, but it's a backup idea," Hasegawa disagreed. "It works for a few people. I think it's a 2 percent success rate.
"Dead people don't register," she added. "Amother could be dead before the adoptee is old enough to apply for it."
She also mentioned that New Jersey allows the adoptive parents to change the date of birth on the certificate to their hometown, making the registry even less useful.
Some opponents have even said that more parents will resort to abortion if their children will have the rights to their full birth certificate. However, Hasegawa says evidence is pointing in the other direction.
In Alabama, a lawwas passed in 2000 allowing access to birth certificates.According to a Guttmacher Institute poll, the abortion rates decreased by 16 percent from 2000 to 2005. Oregon passed a similar law in 2000, and their abortion rates decreased by 25 percent in the same time period. The national average during this time period was a 9 percent drop. Also, Alaska and Kansas have never sealed birth certificates and have abortion rates below the national average.
Baroni said he believes the bill will pass.
Link to article
1 comment:
This is going to sound selfish, however, I can not think of any circumstance that anyone can give me that overrides my right TO KNOW WHO I AM, WHERE I CAME FROM, MY NATIONALITY AND MY MEDICAL HISTORY. I think this is a basic right of all living human beings. I understand that tough decisions and secrets were made for some and that some situations were committed due to crimes. My compassion is there for those people, however, I still believe that even those born under those circumstances have a right to know these basic human needs. Now because I can not relate to a mother who was raped, and believe me I have compassion for her; half of that child is still a piece of her and hopefully, that positive side should outweigh the negative way in which conception was orginated. I am not saying for a minute I understand the mother's pain, however, the child was innocent as well. Even if this bill makes it accessible for people like me to gain access to my original birth certificate, my understanding is the father listed wasn't the biological father anyway....most mothers of that era put their married/divorced spouse or named a boyfriend...but no tests were done or confirmation. So in my case, I will never know my other half as long as the 'biological' mother doesn't offer all the possibilities.
Post a Comment