| The Daily Bastardette

BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT

URGENT ACTION NEED
MASSACHUSETTS TRIPLE THREAT
THROW OUT SB 63, SB 77, and HB 2190

On March 21, 2007, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Disabilities will hold a hearing on two new access bills, SB 63, sponsored by Senator Karen Spilka, SB 77, sponsored by Senator Susan B. Fargo. A third bill, HB 2190, is identical to the others and it may be heard on March 21st as well.

Please contact the committee members immediately (see Contact Information below). Urge them to completely do away with this bill. VOTE NO. Don’t even amend it – just throw it away! Neither bill is fixable with any amendments because the very core of the bills is ROTTEN. These bills are dangerous to the cause of unsealing original birth records all over North America.

The bills in a nutshell:

1) THE BLACK HOLE

The Black Hole is the provision in all three bills which PREVENTS ADOPTED ADULTS BORN BETWEEN JULY 14, 1974 AND JANUARY 1, 2008, FROM RECEIVING THEIR ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATES. All adoptees who fall into this Black Hole will continue to be treated under Massachusetts’ old sealed records law. Those adoptees born before 1974 or after 2007 may access their original birth certificates.

34 years of adoptees will be discarded and thrown into this Black Hole.

2) THE IMPLIED PROMISE

Supporters of the bills contend that there was an “implied promise” of confidentiality to birth mothers between 1974 and 2007 and that the state is obligated to honor its “implied promise.”

We know there is no such thing as an “implied promise.” A promise either IS or it IS NOT. An IMPLIED PROMISE is meaningless However, if these bills are enacted, they will actually CREATE A CONFIDENTIALITY LAW where none exists now.

Case law has shown that a legislature of 2007 is not entitled to invent the legislative intent of a law from 1974. They can either identify the legislative intent properly, or they can’t.

These bills constitute a very dangerous precedent. They will damage chances of unsealing birth records all over North America.

Read the texts of bills at:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/185/st00/st00063.htm
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/185/st00/st00077.htm
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/house/185/ht02pdf/ht02190.pdf

CONTACT INFORMATION

JOINT COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN, FAMILIES, AND DISABILITIES
Room 146
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Tel: 617-722-2011
Fax: 617-722-2238

RAPID CUT AND PASTE
SENATORS:
[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected]

REPRESENTATIVES:
[email protected], [email protected]
[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected],[email protected], [email protected]