Easy to Read, Easy to Print, Easy to Distribute
Bastard Nation policy statements for activists, legislators, and the press.

Table of Contents

• • • • • OPEN RECORDS: WHY IT’S AN ISSUE
        • WHOSE RIGHT TO PRIVACY?
        • BIRTH PARENT CONFIDENTIALITY
        • THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY AS A JUSTIFICATION FOR BIRTH PARENT ANONYMITY IN ADOPTIONS
        • CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES AND OPEN RECORDS
        • CONDITIONAL ACCESS LEGISLATION
        • OPEN RECORDS ARE GOOD FOR ADOPTIVE FAMILIES
        • IDENTITY INFORMATION: A CIVIL RIGHT FOR ADULT ADOPTEES
        • IDENTITY INFORMATION: A MORAL RIGHT FOR ADULT ADOPTEES
        • ABORTION, ADOPTION, AND OPEN RECORDS
        • A PRO-LIFE CONSERVATIVE ENDORSES OPEN RECORDS
        • THE HISTORY OF SEALED ADOPTION RECORDS IN THE UNITED STATES
        • THE HISTORY OF SEALED ADOPTION RECORDS IN CANADA
        • THE OPPOSITION
        • LEGALIZED BABY ABANDONMENT/SAFE HAVEN LAWS
        • LEGALIZED BABY ABANDONMENT/BABY DROP BOXES
        • MEASURE 58: OREGON’S HISTORIC BALLOT INITIATIVE
• WHY BASTARD NATION DOES NOT USE MEDICAL HISTORY AS AN ARGUMENT FOR ACCESS TO ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES
• • • • WHY CONTACT VETOS ARE NOT AN ACCEPTABLE COMPROMISE‘
      • INTEGRATED BIRTH CERTIFICATES: WHY BASTARD NATION OPPOSES THEM

EXTRAS

• BASTARD NATION’S STRASBOURG STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH LES X-EN COLERE, February 13, 2003
• BLACK  BOXES – Megan A. Collins
• CHILDREN IN FAMILIES FIRST (CHIFF) AND THE EVANGELICAL ADOPTION MOVEMENT – Shea Grimm
• NEW YORK HOUSE FLOOR DEBATE AND VOTE ON WEPRIN/MONTGOMERY BILL THAT RESTORED RIGHTS–INCLUDES ALL COMMENTS BY LAWMAKERS,
• THE HARD ROCK MANIFESTO, March 10,  2011
• THE HARD ROCK MANIFESTO 4-POINT FLYER, March 10, 2011
• THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF-DEFEATISM IN ADOPTION REFORM – Damsel Plum
• SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: ALLIES. COLONIZERS AND BASTARD NATION’S MISSION – Shea Grimm
• THE TRIAD IS A FIVE-LEGGED STOOL – Ron Morgan
• WHAT AMERICA GETS FOR $500 MILLION A YEAR IN ADOPTION TAX CREDITS – James Hamilton, Esq.

NOT BASTARD NATIONALS BUT PEOPLE WE LIKE

• Carp, E Wayne.2007  Does Opening Adoption Records Have an Adverse Social Impact? Some Lessons from the US, Great Britain, and Australia, 1953-2007 Adoption Quarterly vol. 10(3–4), 2007
• –NEW–Corsentino, Tony. Reprodouctive Emancipation: Why I favor intersectional adoptee rights advocacy, July 3, 2022
• D’Arcy, Claudia. Portrait of an Adoption: Call me Anti-Adoption if You Must ,Chicago Now, November 14, 2013
• Luce, Greg. Bastards in the Room, Adoptee Rights Law Blog,  June 5, 2017
• Luce, Greg. The Nutso World of New York Adoptee Rights,  Adoptee Rights Law Blog, May 12, 2017
• →NEW! → Merritt, Michelle.  What is Cost to be Adopted, Visible Magazine, March 20, 2020
• Samuels, Elizabeth J.  The Idea of Adoption An Inquiry into the History of Adult Adoptee Access to Birth Records. Rutgers Law Review (53) 2001
• Samuels,Elizabeth J. Surender and Subordination: Birth Mothers and Adoption Law Reform. Michigan Journal of Gender and Law, 33 (2013)
• Sanger, Carol. Infant Safe Haven Laws: Legislating in the Culture of Life. Columbia Law Review, May 2006
• Smith, Erik L.  The Myth of the Right to Privacy as Justifying Anonymity in Safe Haven Laws. eriksmith.org
• Smolin, David, Directory of David  Smolin’s  legal and scholarly papers on unethical and , illegal adoption and child trafficking for adoption.
• 30 Questions for Thirty Days – Daniel ibn Zayd

REPORTS

• Lammerant, Isabelle and Marlene Hofstetter.  Adoption at What Cost? For an Ethical Responsibility of Receiving Countries in International Adoption, Terres des Hommes International Federation,2007
• Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, Brandeis University.  Fraud and Corruption in International Adoption (ongoing

SPECIAL RESOURCES

• Connecticut NOW supports OBC access (some NOW chapters have actively opposed)
• Ohio Right to Life Drops Opposition; Testifies in Support of OBC Access – Testimony
• Ohio Catholic Conference Drops Opposition; Testifies in Support of OBC Access – Testimony

READING LISTS:

• • READ ABOUT…THE ADOPTEE EXPERIENCE
  • READ ABOUT…ADOPTION IN HISTORY
  • READ ABOUT…ADOPTION IN LITERATURE
  • READ ABOUT…BABY ABANDONMENT
  • READ ABOUT….THE BIRTH PARENT EXPERIENCE
  • READ ABOUT…CIVIL RIGHTS AND ACTIVISM
  • READ ABOUT….OPEN RECORDS
  • READ ABOUT…SEARCHING

OTHER RESOURCES:

• THE INTERNET
• QUOTATIONS

More detailed discussions of these same subjects appear elsewhere on our website and at other sites on the Internet.

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