On April 18, Bastard Nation withdrew support for Iowa SF621. after proponents announced on Facebook that it would accept a redaction amendment. The Adoptee Rights Laws Center and the American Adoption Congress has also withdrawn support. The amendment and an amended bill may be heard as early as Monday or Tuesday (April 22, 23).
To avoid re-inventing the wheel, we are posting ARLC’s Action Alert. Bastard Nation’s letter to the Iowa Senate will be posted once after the amendments/.bill are heard.
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A once-clean bill in Iowa is going bad, with an agreed upon dirty amendment going to the Senate floor as early as Monday or Tuesday of this week. The bill would add statutory redaction rights for birthparents—i.e., the granting of an unchallenged power to alter an adopted person’s original birth certificate. The bill also has another problem I describe here: who else gets the OBC?
The bill is on the Senate calendar now and could come to a vote as early as Monday, April 22. The first vote would be to approve the dirty amendment. If that is approved, the second vote would likely be on the amended bill, which would now provide a redaction option for birthparents.
Here’s what you can do today (and a similar action alert will be posted this week for the Iowa House of Representatives, which may take up the Senate bill if it is passed).
Contact the following Iowa Senators by email immediately. Tell them to vote NO on discriminatory amendments to SF621. Tell them to set the issue aside for another session to work out their concerns. A sample message follows, as well as a list of their emails.
Tweet or share this post on Facebook and ask others to share it, or tweet a message to Senate Majority Leader Charles Schneider or Senate Minority Leader Janet Petersen.
Sample Message
I am an [your interest in this issue and especially if you someone affected by the bill]. I ask you to vote No on the amendment expected for SF621, which would allow Iowa to erase identities on the vital records of adopted persons. Secrecy and government-supported redaction protects no one. It backfires and makes it worse for everyone involved. Please vote NO on amendments to SF621 and NO on the bill if it is amended.
UPDATE
SF621 was not heard on Monday, but restrictive amendments pertaining to redactions and the effective date of legislation for adoptees born 1950 and after have been filed. The amendments are confusing so Adoptee Rights Law Center has created a “merged bill” that shows the changes within the context of the original bill.
Iowa State Senator Emails
zach.whiting@legis.iowa.gov,
randy.feenstra@legis.iowa.gov,
jim.carlin@legis.iowa.gov,
dennis.guth@legis.iowa.gov,
tim.kraayenbrink@legis.iowa.gov,
mark.segebart@legis.iowa.gov,
rick.bertrand@legis.iowa.gov,
dan.dawson@legis.iowa.gov,
jason.schultz@legis.iowa.gov,
jake.chapman@legis.iowa.gov,
tom.shipley@legis.iowa.gov,
mark.costello@legis.iowa.gov,
julian.garrett@legis.iowa.gov,
amy.sinclair@legis.iowa.gov,
chaz.allen@legis.iowa.gov,
nate.boulton@legis.iowa.gov,
tony.bisignano@legis.iowa.gov,
janet.petersen@legis.iowa.gov,
jack.whitver@legis.iowa.gov,
brad.zaun@legis.iowa.gov,
matt.mccoy@legis.iowa.gov,
charles.schneider@legis.iowa.gov,
herman.quirmbach@legis.iowa.gov,
jerry.behn@legis.iowa.gov,
annette.sweeney@legis.iowa.gov,
waylon.brown@legis.iowa.gov,
amanda.ragan@legis.iowa.gov,
michael.breitbach@legis.iowa.gov,
tod.bowman@legis.iowa.gov,
eric.giddens@legis.iowa.gov,
bill.dotzler@legis.iowa.gov,
craig.johnson@legis.iowa.gov,
rob.hogg@legis.iowa.gov,
liz.mathis@legis.iowa.gov,
wally.horn@legis.iowa.gov,
jeff.edler@legis.iowa.gov,
zach.wahls@legis.iowa.gov,
tim.kapucian@legis.iowa.gov,
kevin.kinney@legis.iowa.gov,
ken.rozenboom@legis.iowa.gov,
mariannette.miller-meeks@legis.iowa.gov,
rich.taylor@legis.iowa.gov,
joe.bolkcom@legis.iowa.gov,
tom.greene@legis.iowa.gov
jim.lykam@legis.iowa.gov,
mark.lofgren@legis.iowa.gov,
roby.smith@legis.iowa.gov,
dan.zumbach@legis.iowa.gov,
chris.cournoyer@legis.iowa.gov,
pam.jochum@legis.iowa.gov,
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
