LD 1805 has been pulled from the committee! All of your wonderful letters to the representatives helped do the trick. We have all helped to save a bad bill from being passed. A study commission is now being formed out of session to investigate how to access OBC’s in Maine, specifically looking at what has occured in Oregon, Alabama, and New Hampshire. We’ll keep you informed.

Bastard Nation Executive Secretary Anita Field replies to comments from Access 2006’s Cathy Robinshaw posted on Bastardette regarding LD 1805. It also appears in Bastard Blogs. I will also be replying this weekend. ********** Dear Cathy, I am writing in response to your comments on my guest blog that appeared on The Daily Bastardette, “Open Letter To Maine Adoptees.” Cathy, how many ways must I say that Bastard Nation was NOT with the opposition? We vigorously supported the bill in early February, before the hearing. I have collected “all” Bastard Nation’s communications about LD 1805 from February 25th until the very end of March. This is not a “selection,” Cathi, this is every single one: 1) Testimony to Joint Judiciary Committee, “7 Reasons to Support 1805” 2) Bastard Nation Action Alert, February 25, 2006, “Support 1805” 3) Fax sent to the Joint Judiciary Committee while they were in work session,“Why You Should Vote For LD, 1805 as written” 4) Fact sheet to our membership, “Important Information Regarding LD 1805” 5) My letter to the Kennebec Journal, “Support 1805” You state that you: “were disappointed when instead of the bill being voted on in the committee, it went into a work Continue Reading →

You know how baby dump pushers are always yabbering about how they just need more $$$$$ to spread the word around to parents that its brave, courageous, and loving to abandon your “unwanted babies ” under the safe haven no blame no shame-no name scheme they’ve set up? Well, here’s an interesting story out of Brazos County, Texas. Last week Susan Chiniewicz, 35, was charged with 1st degree murder in the death of her newborn son whose body was found last October in a trashcan at the Texas World Speedway south of College Station. What makes this case noteworthy is that Chiniewicz is a model housewife, mom, newspaper reporter and editor who knew all about Texas’ Baby Moses Law. Brandy Moore, former owner of the The Colony Courier-Leader, where Chiniewicz worked says, “She’s done stories on that before, so she knows. Something must have been going on to stress her out that much.” Chiniewicz doesn’t fit the profile of the “desperate” and “frightened” poster mom. Besides being a journalist , she reportedly owns a editorial service and is a very active member of The Colony Chamber of Commerce where she’s an “Ambassador Captain. ” Oh, and she’s married with 3 Continue Reading →

Bastard Nation and Bastardette in particular have taken some hits for our actions to oppose Maine’s LD 1805 (see previous blogs) after legislators attempted (and are still attemping) to gut the the bill and the rights of adopted adults in Maine. Our decision was politically sound and we stick by it. No apologies! I will be posting my owo reply soon. BN’s Janet Allen offers her comments with the full support of the BN Executive Committee below. These comments are also posted on BN Blogs An achive of the New Hampshire struggle is here. ********** A member of Access 2006 has left comments for Bastardette. I can forgive the majority of her comment and chalk it up to her great disappointment for the Maine bill that drove her to write. However, there is something that needs to be said and I feel that I am qualified to say it. Many of you may remember that NH had a bill in 2000 that went before the Children & Family Law Committee. We worked on that bill for many, many months and I never missed one of the subcommittee work sessions. That committee was very similar to the Maine committee, with amendments Continue Reading →

Dear Fellow Adoptees, Bastard Nation has vigorously supported Representative Gerald W. Davis’ excellent original bill, 1805, which would give adopted adults unconditional access to their original birth certificates. Bastard Nation was well represented at the bill’s hearing on February 28, 2006. Our Chairperson, Marley Greiner, as well as New Hampshire Representative Janet Allen and Maine resident Craig Hickman, all traveled to Augusta to testify at the hearing. At that time, Bastard Nation issued a letter of support to the Judiciary Committee as a whole in full support of LD 1805. We supported Representative Davis’ bill wholeheartedly and were disappointed when instead of the bill being voted on in the committee, it went into a work session. Bastard Nation issued two Action Alerts in full support of LD 1805. We asked our members to write letters to the representatives and senators on the Joint Judiciary Committee, urging them to vote for Representative Davis’ original bill, LD 1805. One Action Alert was issued at the time of the hearing and a second one was sent out when the committee went into its work session.We quickly learned that certain members of the Committee were not in favor of Representative Davis’ bill and these Continue Reading →

Is anyone under any obligation to give out their medical histories to family members? Of course not. If you ask your grandmother if she ever had a life threatening disease and she tells you to go sit on ice, will you be filing a non-disclosure of medical history suit against her? Of course not. What does medical history have to do with obtaining your original birth certificate? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If, from that original birth certificate, you decide to search for birth family and become reunited, then it is possible that you might find out some medical history information. That discovery comes from searching and reuniting, not from OBC access. I am under no obligation to tell my biological daughters any medical history information about myself. Nor should adoptees expect that it is their “right” to have their birth families provide them with medical history information. Some will and some won’t. When a Contract Preference Form is included in legislation, there is a trade off that is inherent in the form. IF a birth mother prefers not to be contacted, in order to get her wishes included in the adoptees file, she must fill out a medical history form. The Continue Reading →

Just what in the hell is going on in Maine? That’s what we’re all wondering. The latest directive out of Access 2006 is a request for supporters, especially adoptees, to ask their doctors to write up a brief statement on the importance of medical histories for adoptees and fax it off to Access 2006. Undoubtedly for future legislative discussion–which isn’t gonna happen. WTF??????? One more time: 1805 IS NOT ABOUT MEDICAL RECORDS. LD 1805 is–or rather was–about the restoration of the civil right of adopted persons in Maine to access their original birth certificates and identities. Rep. Deborah Simpson and Sen. Sean Faircloth and their adoptee-hating thugs in office have gutted the bill and its intent. Neither will suddenly get a message from God and change their minds. These politicians hate us. PLEASE GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEADS: No one is entitled to anybody else’s medical records or histories. Your parents (natural or adoptive) are not required to tell you their medical histories. You are not required to tell them your medical history. A medical history belongs to you and whoever you chose to share it with. No one can force anybody to do otherwise. KILL LD 1805 NOW!Do you Continue Reading →

A couple weeks ago Bastardette wrote that Massachusetts Senator Karen Spilka hates adoptees. As far as I can tell she still does. Our civil rights remain on her table buried beneath a pile of worn file folders and Burger King wrappers while politicians “study” the legitimacy of our illegitimacy. But Spilka’s puny hatred is nothing compared to the fear and loathing adoptees generate amongst the hacks on the Maine legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee. We once cute and cuddly saved-from-the abortitorium baybees are now ungrateful, intrusive, demanding, dangerous, uncouth, uncute adults. Give us an ice pick and we’ll Trotskyize a birthmom–or a politician–not to mention rip up the social fabric of Maine. Call out Homeland Security! Adoptees must be stopped! Without prejudice! The once adoptee-friendly, open records bill LD 1805–taken almost verbatim from New Hampshire’s 2005 records access law–has morphed into the most repressive, restrictive. anti-adoptee piece of dreck to hit the hallowed halls of any legislature in decades exceeding NCFA’s biggest wet dream–what Bastard National Anita Field calls “a no rights bill.” If passed in any of its restrictive amended forms, Maine adoptees would come out with substantially less rights than they have now–which aren’t many. Under the front runner Continue Reading →

April 1, 2006 RE: AB 1873POSITION: OPPOSE To the Honorable Noreen Evans, Chair, Assembly Committee on Human Services:And Members of the Assembly Committee on Human Services: Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization opposes AB 1873. AB 1873 expands California’s Safely Surrendered Baby Act, (safe haven law) to let parents abandon infants 30 days old or less. The bill makes other substantive changes. BN has always opposed “safe haven” laws. Our June 23, 2005 testimony submitted to the Assembly Judiciary Committee detailed our objections to the SSBA and SB 116. SB 116 repealed the sunset provision of the original SSBA (SB 1368). Because infants surrendered under SSBA are expected to be placed for adoption, Bastard Nation’s objections to AB 1873 focus on how the amended SSBA will effect the civil rights of adoptees. Expanding SSBA erodes adoptee civil rights by increasing the number of anonymous children available for adoption through unethical and unprofessional practices. SSBA also disenfranchises natural parents, encourages unethical behavior, and hides crime. (1) AB 1873 erodes adoptee civil rights by increasing the number of anonymous children available for adoption through unethical and unprofessional practices. The SSBA establishes parallel child welfare systems, where one system opposes the long-standing principles Continue Reading →

Bastardette’s co-conspirator Erik Smith is scheduled to appear on the National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation on Monday, March 27. He’ll appear with adoption lawyer and University of Missouri law professor Mary Beck and Columbia University Law professor Carol Sanger for a discussion of natural father rights and putative father registries. Talk of the Nation is aired generally from 2-4 pm est. Go here to find the time and station in your area Erik was featured in last Sunday’s New York Times front page top of the fold article on natural dad rights, Unwed Fathers Fight for Babies Placed for Adoption by Mothers . He was also a guest on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees show last Monday with Mary Beck and Adam Pertman, director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. A transcript of the show is here (scroll a little past half-way down). Erik’s webpage is here Go sic ’em Erik!