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A few weeks ago Access Massachusetts asked help in moving clean bills HB1892/SB1267 out of committee and on for a vote. The bills were recently voted favorable out of the Joint Committee on Public Health and are now in the House Seering, Policy, Scheduling Committee of the House. Access Massachusetts is not affiliated with Bastard Nation but we wholeheartedly support this bill that will level the playing field and restore the right of all Massachusetts adoptees to their OBC. Below is the letter we sent tonight in support of the bill and movement forward.
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PO Box 4607
New Windsor, New York 12553-7845
bastards.org 614-795-6819 @BastardsUnite
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The Hon. Robert DeLeo, Speaker of the House
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The Hon. Thomas Petrolati Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling Massachusetts House of Representatives
February 16, 2020
RE: HB1892/SB1267—Adoptee Access to Original Birth Certificates. Please move forward.
Dear Speaker DeLeo and Rep. Petrolati:
Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization is the largest adoptee civil rights organization in the United States. We support only full unrestricted access for all adopted persons, to their original birth certificates (OBC) and related documents.
We support the passage of companion bills H1892 and SB1267 as written and urge these bills to be prioritized and moved for a vote ASAP.
Current Massachusetts law allows adoptees to access their original birth certificates without restriction or condition at age 18 if they were adopted on or before July 17, 1974, or on or after January 1, 2008. HB1892/SB1267 level the playing field and close the black hole by allowing those adopted in the middle years to enjoy the same right to OBC access and due process as their fellow adoptees born on the “right side” of this arbitrary schedule.
Fifteen years ago, when BN first began to work in Massachusetts,I walked the halls of Beacon Hill and was assured by aides that a current bill that would have restored the right of OBC access to all Massachusetts adoptees in one fell swoop was a “no brainer.”
Apparently, it wasn’t.
So, here we are fifteen years later stuck with the unequal application of OBC access with arbitrarily selected haves and have nots. Bills to correct this inequality have been introduced nearly every session since then, and have ended up lost, then dead in a committee.
HB1892/SB1267 have passed out of the Joint Committee on Public Health and are ready to move up to the big time courtesy of the Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling
Let Massachusetts join Kansas, Alaska, Oregon, Alabama, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Colorado, Hawaii, and New York (the hardest nut to crack yet) in leading the country into a new era of restored civil rights for all adoptees.
Lez go! Move HB1892/SD1267 out of the dark and on to victory! It’s a no brainier, and the right thing to do!
Sincerely yours,
Marley E Greiner
Executive Chair
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
