Lately, deformers and their friends in legislatures have adopted (excuse us!) a new tool to torture us: redactions.
Under this obscene scheme, birthparents are granted a special right that no one else has–the right to require the state to remove identifying information from your state-generated and held birth certificate. In other words, the government, as a favor to a parent with a cramped comfort zone censors your own birth certificate turning it into mini- Mueller Report and rendering you invisible, even to yourself. This black-blocking is done under the rubric of “the most good for the most, people” ‘ or similar garbling. They forget to mention that once redactions (or their first cousin’ Disclosure Vetoes) are placed in law, no state has come back to remove them. Redactions create a permanent underclass of adoptees. Left behinds. But, hey! A state-mutilated OBC is better than no OBC! And, if you are really upset, you always go into therapy.
The latest case of redactionitis is in Iowa. Even though a clean bill had a solid majority committed to passage in the Senate, leaders made a bizarre last minute arrangement to dirty it with redaction language out of a belief, real or not, that the clean bill would not pass the House. The dirty bill passed the Senate unanimously, but it is unclear if the House will even take it up for a vote since only a few days are left in the session. This is what happens when expediency, not strategy, guides a campaign. A clean victory in the Senate would have created–even if it meant a walk away in the House– credit for future campaigns and credibility for organizers. (Bastard Nation, Adoptee Rights Law Center, and the American Adoption Congess dropped support when the Senate debacle went down, and are not going to trust current organizers.in the future). Now, no matter what happens this session or next session or five years from now, Iowa rights are probably nullified. If the House votes favorable, redaction will become law. If there is no vote, future campaigns are hobbled by the dirty win in the Senate.
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Deformers suggest, support, promote, and pass these Catch-22 OBC access bills as a way to wiggle out of responsible activism and people please. Sadly there are plenty of deformers and uninvolved followers who are OK with this. Whenever a redaction bill or amendment hits the hopper, the feedback from the people most harmed by this continued abrogation of their rights thankfully regurgitate their master’s voice: “It’s a start,” “baby steps,” “something is better than nothing.” It never occurs to them that they may be on the end of the redaction pen. We are glad they weren’t around for the abolition of slavery or woman suffrage.
We don’t know the total of OBC redaction requests filed nationwide, except in Ohio where a reported 259 were filed before the law went into effect.or how many redacted OBCs have been issued. Those numbers are either not counted or a state secret. Numbers, however, make no difference, As long as past, present, and future redactees and redaction laws exist.in your state, you have no authentic or guaranteed right to your OBC.
If you still think redaction is OK, read what Megan Collins had to say about her redacted Ohio OBC in her essay Black Boxes,
To show your rejection of redactions we’ve made a few stickers for you to download and post wherever you see fit: social media, and, email, your forehead.
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
