Tonight Bastardette has to write a long over-due article for the Bastard Quarterly. But as a compulsive surfer she had to take a couple moments to see what non-bastards think about Illinois HB 4623. (We already know what Bastards think about it!).
Let me tell you! It’s galling to be on the “same side” as these ahistorical sob sisters who can’t go from A to B without detouring to Peoria. The twisted paths would make Proust envious.
At least the Illinois Catholic Conference, despite its control issues, remains neutral. As for the Illinois Review,‘s “Pandora’s Box” fears: why is this classical reference always used in an attempt to intimidate adoptees? As adoptee rights activist and poet Penny Partridge will tell you, what’s left in the bottom of the box is Hope. (left: Penny opens Pandora’s Box, performance piece, AAC Conference Portland, OR, March 2008. Photo by Bastardette).
Lets begin!
Illinois Federation for Right to Life
Legislation: HB 4623–The Adoption-Confid Intermediary Bill
ARGUMENT: A non-anonymous birth parent will out an anonymous birth parent. For their own good, the state has a duty to monitor, control and forbid free speech and association amongst its citizens. (Shouts to us in CAPS, but I’ll save your eyes and ears with a normal transcription)
Even with a request for anonymity by a birth parent, the information in the original birth certificate would still be made available, only without the name and address of the objecting birth parent. If the other birth parent does not know to make a request then that birth parents (sic) name can be obtained which could also lead to exposure of the second birth parent who requested anonymity.
Illinois Pro-Family Coalition
Action Alert: Oppose Adoption Act Changes to Privacy (HB 4623)
ARGUMENT: Unwed pregnancy is bad , shameful and life-ruining. Pregnant teens have only two options: anonymous adoption or abortion.
Young pregnant girls struggle with their situations, having to decide whether to give the baby up for adoption or have an abortion. This legislation may “tip the balance” in such situations toward abortion option because the mother’s “privacies” will be compromised later in life if “sealed” records can be ‘unsealed.”
Illinois Review: Crossroads of the Conservative Community
Opening the Adoption Pandora’s Box
ARGUMENT: Records access will enhance “curiosity” of “especially curious” adopted offspring of same sex couples. Bill could open Pandora’s Box and pretty soon products of high tech repro and surrogacy will demand the records of their births and anonymous parents.
Thinking more about this, it occurred that a dilemma is likely to arise for same sex couples whose adopted children will be especially curious as to who their birth parents were and the circumstances surrounding their births. Two mothers or two fathers listed on a birth certificate will demand more information… And as fertilization techniques become more and more advanced, birth parent situations become more complicated. Will an adoptee have access to the medical records concerning surrogate mothers, artificial insemination donors, and in vitro fertilization egg donors, as well? Those persons will no longer be able to remain anonymous, as their genetic traits will be pertinent information to the resulting children.
Illinois Catholic Conference
Statement on House Bill 4623, March 13, 2008
ARGUMENT: We like the bill and we don’t oppose it. No, wait! That’s not exactly true. Let’s make it prospective and while we’re at it…
ARGUMENT 1: Decades ago, we made implied promises of confidentiality in “good faith” to women. Now they might come back and sue us.
Birth parents have relied on this understanding of confidentiality when they were clients of agencies, and under the proposed changes in HB 4623,this confidentiality is then broken, raising potential for lawsuits against agencies. This potential legal consequence of HB 4623 for adoption agencies that acted in good faith should be given consideration…
ARGUMENT 2: Without the guidance of Catholic Charities’ counselors and other adoption professionals, clodhopper adoptees will muck around in things they don’t understand.
Catholic Charities agencies, who provide search and reunion services for cases they handled, take many important steps when facilitating any potential reunion between an adopted person and a birth parent. The involvement of an agency in the search and reunion process allows for counseling and other assessments of those involved in the highly sensitive and emotional situation of a reunion. Under this legislation, however, such an important intervention will not necessarily be made. An adopted person could obtain identifying information from a birth certificate without any assisting entity. There would more situations in which there is no availability of counseling and preparation for both the birth parent and adopted person before contact and a reunion occur.
ARGUMENT 3: OBC information should be verified by adoption agencies; that information might be wrong.
This is a concern because a birth certificate may have the wrong name or the birth mother may have changed her maiden name to a married name. If this is the case, an adopted person may end up contacting someone with the same name that is on the birth certificate but who is not his or her birth parent. This could cause a great disruption to the person who is mistakenly believed to be the birth parent and could lead to undue stress for family relationships.
Could I make these up? And isn’t it interesting how they don’t seem to know that they’re arguing about practices already in place for some adoptees with the wretched Registry and CI system, and the bill extends the practice to a few more lucky bastards. What would they say about a wholesale repeal of sealed birth certificates? Let’s find out!
Sounds like we’re still children in need of a spanking. They actually ADMIT that names on the OBC might be fraudulent?! So, in my mind, that’s an argument for opening the adoption records too – or at least being able to get the REAL names off the court or agency records. A lot of this seems like social worker speak – that ordinary citizens (adopted or not) can’t function without counseling.
NO counseling by Catholic Charities?! Oh the HORROR! I tremble to think of what we bastards are capable of without THAT costly…er, I mean objective and educated guidance. EEEKKKKK!!!!