Minnesota Becomes 15th State to Acknowledge Adoptee Birth Record Equality

Minnesota’s long history of sealed records and complicated, confusing, convoluted “rules,” including an incomprehensible intermediary system that made it nearly impossible for adoptees to obtain their Original Birth Certificates, ended Wednesday when Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz signed  SF2995 an omnibus health bill that contained OBC access provisions. Those provisions came from the earlier stand-alone SF1279 stuck in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee for carryover to the next session. The Minnesota Coalition for Adoption Reform (MCAR)  and the Adoptee Rights Law Center directed by Minneapolis attorney Gregory Luce, negotiated with legislative leaders to get the provisions added and onto the floor of both Houses which passed the bill on May 22, 2023, the last day of the session. (Senate: 34-32; House 69-64) 

Of course, OBC rights attracted the usual radical adopteephobes, shaking in their hobnail boots at the thought of terrified birthparents forced to scurry to hidey-holes in the upper reaches of the Mesabi Range or even cross into Ontario and behond to escape their birth certificate-waving now-adult youthful indiscretionaries.  According to retired attorney, adoptive father, and MCAR activist  Jim Hamilton (St. Paul), a  long-time ally of Bastard Nation:  

Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities showed up late in the game and asked that non-disclosure affidavits be retained. We and the chief Senate author, Erin Maye Quade, stood fast and negotiated a few minor changes. The bill had already passed its first committee at that point and been referred for inclusion in the omnibus bill.

Our most strident long-time opposition, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, however, didn’t show up. MCCL’s website indicates that the organization actually opposed omnibus bill (or at least the parts of it that codify and protect reproductive rights), but minded its own business regarding us. Sometimes being an afterthought or a no-thought is good. 

Personally, the longstanding Minnesota law was so complicated, that for me, and perhaps others, the thought of beating it down was the kind of thing that brought on reflux and dream loops. I didn’t even like to think about it other than to say to myself that after another two dozen states surrendered to us, then Minnesota would fall. Fortunately, others thought differently. Hamilton told me:

Fifteen years ago, then-Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed a bill that would have made original birth certificates available to all but those whose records were subject to affidavits of non-disclosure. What was passed this year was the result of the efforts of a small group of dedicated adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents who spent those years submitting bill after bill, negotiating with opponents and interested parties, and finding legislators on both sides of the aisle willing to not only sponsor a clean bill but to take it all the way. Among them were Senator Erin Maye Quade and Representative Steve Elkins, Minnesota Coalition for Adoption Reform and Adoptee Rights Law Center

Greg Luce tweeted:

This bill has its origins in a complete redraft from 2018, which made it an unrestricted equal rights bill. First introduced in 2019, it died in committee. In 2021, the next biennium, it got pulled from committee after hearing. This biennium? #FinishLine… 

And moments after passage: 

I seriously have to let this sink in. People told us this was impossible, yet here it is.

The new law takes effect on July 1, 2024. The Adoptee Rights Law Center will publish a FAQ on it shortly which will discuss the changes and how to apply for the OBC. We will link it on our Minnesota  State Page.

Minnesota is the 15th state to acknowledge the right of adopted people to obtain their Original Birth Certificate upon request with no conditions or restrictions.–the second victory this year. That’s 30% of the country now! South Dakota and Vermont, (passed legislation last year), will open on July 1, 2023.

A big thank you to The Minnesota Coalition for Adoption Reform, The Adoptee Rights Law Center, Senator Erin Maye Quaid, Representative Steve Elkins, and all the people for all the years who never gave up and kept their eye on the prize.

 

 

NOTE: I apologize for my lateness in writing about the South Dakota campaign. Responsibilities and life got in the way. South Dakota is an important win and shows how ONE PERSON can make a difference.  I will have something up about that in a few days. 

 

• Bastard Nation Minnesota State Page
• Bastard Nation 2003 Legislative Page

 

 

 

 

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