Tag Archives: South Dakota

SOUTH DAKOTA HB 1223: UP FOR RECONSIDERATION TODAY

Posted on by — 3 Comments ↓

NEVER MIND: I no sooner got this up than we learned that the bill is DEAD. RIP HB 1223, SB 152 and South Dakota’s civil rightless bastards. South Dakota HB 1223 was defeated Friday and is supposedly being reconsidered today. Please go to below to the original action alerts and send a message of support for a clean bill and reconsideration. It’s been very confusing. The bill’s sponsor who claimed to want a clean bill, voted YAY for the corrupted amended version and the sponsor of the corrupted version voted NAY against his own amendment! Please contact the House and asked members to (1) strike the amendment on the floor (2) if the amendment is not struck on the floor, urge members to vote NO. Contact information: http://legis.state.sd.us/email/LegislatorEmail.aspx?MemberID=30s Here is my letter: I understand that HB 1223 is scheduled for reconsideration today. This bill started as a clean bill to restore the right of all South Dakota adoptees to access, with no restrictions, their own pre-adoption (originial) birth certificate upon request. The bill was amended with adisclosure veto (under a false title of “birthparent contact preference,”) that creates a special right for birthparents to ban access–a special right that no Continue Reading →

MY LETTER TO SOUTH DAKOTA: HB 1223

Posted on by — Leave a reply

NOTE: You still have time to get your emails in! The floor vote was postponed until tomorrow afternoon.Go to the action alert below for contact information. It’s not too late to change South Dakota history! The original HB 1223 was a clean bill that would permit all South Dakota adopted adults, without restriction, to obtain their original birth certificates (obc) upon request. I would very much like to support HB 1223, but. unfortunately, a so-called “contact preference” amendment was added to the bill which not only corrupts and misnames what a genuine “contact preference” is, but guts the intent of the bill with what is in fact a “disclosure veto” that keeps specific obcs sealed. A “contact preference” was introduced legislatively in Oregon after the 1999 passage of Ballot Measure 58 that restored adoptee rights in that state. Its purpose is to give a mechanism through the “contact preference form” for birthparents to communicate with the adoptee in a confidential manner, whether they were interested in contact and submit other personal information about themselves. Submission of the form is voluntary. The form is put into the adoptee’s state file and sent with the obc when and if the adoptee requests Continue Reading →

BAD NEWS IN SOUTH DAKOTA…AND MORE BAD NEWS: ANOTHER ACTION ALERT

Posted on by — Leave a reply

SB 152, the only clean bill so far this year in the United States, died Wednesday afternoon in the South Dakota Senate. The “reconsideration” never happened. South Dakota Seal posted on its FB page: When the House Speaker announced it for reconsideration, not even the sponsor said a word. Apparently he lost his fight??? ****** SB 152’S companion bill, HB 1223 started out as a clean bill, but a “contact preference” which is actually a disclose veto, was added to it which reads: If a parent has indicated a no contact preference no original birth certificate may be obtained. South Dakota Seal has been told the bill will go to the House floor today (Thursday) at 2:30 PM for a vote. Please contact the House and asked members to (1) strike the amendment on the floor (2) if the amendment is not struck on the floor, urge members to vote NO. If this bill passes with the current amendment, South Dakota will have created a “special right” for a handful of parents to deny access to records that serves as a guarantee that “special records” will remain sealed. No state with a disclosure veto in place has ever revisited the Continue Reading →

MY LETTER TO THE SOUTH DAKOTA SENATE–RECONSIDERATION OF SB 152

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Adoptees throughout the country have been watching the progress of SB 152 and are greatly dismayed that the Senate yesterday defeated the bill. We are pleased, however, that the bill will be reconsidered today, and urge your reconsideration and support. SB 152 is about the restoration of the right for all South Dakota adoptees to receive a copy of their original birth certificates, a right they once enjoyed and took for granted just as the state’s not adopted continue to. The bill is about nothing else. I was very surprised that the South Dakota Eagle Forum opposed and was apparently influential in yesterday’s defeat–especially since it used the spurious and discredited abortion argument. Reasons to seek abortion vary, but fear of a dirty little secret showing up 30 years later isn’t one of them. Even the biggest opponents of the restoration of our rights have admitted that there is no proof of a link between an original birth certificate and an abortion, it’s just something they “know” with no further explanation. The fact is thatstates that treat adoptees like everyone else with full access to their birth certificates and pre-adoption identities have lower abortion rates. And that IS provable. The Continue Reading →

SOUTH DAKOTA — EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

The South Dakota Senate yesterday defeated SB 152. This was a clean simple bill to restore the right to access original birth certificates to all South Dakota adoptees without restriction. The vote was 22-12. The roll call vote is here. According to the South Dakota Seal Facebook page, the chief opponent was the South Dakota Eagle Forum. It’s argument: abortion We haven’t heard from the Eagle Forum since it took a trouncing in the 1996 Doe v Sundquist case Back then, the Tennessee Eagle Forum signed on as an amicus to overturn that state’s partial-access bill, which resulted in the now famous Sundquist decision. Apparently the Eagle Forum hasn’t learned its lesson. Go here for BN’s short review of Sundquist South Dakota seal writes: UFFDA!! Senate Bill 152 failed on the Senate Floor today. 22 nays,12 yeas. HUGE turnaround from last year. The strong opponent this time was abortion and the young girl who may been pg and want to keep it a secret. When some of them were speaking, they were saying Adoptive Parent instead of Birthparent, and child instead of Adult, even the sponsor did that. Geeesh. Made me wonder if they were a bunch of kids running Continue Reading →

MYLETTER TO THE SOUTH DAKOTA SENATE – YES ON SB 152

Posted on by — 3 Comments ↓

I am delighted to endorse and support SB 152, a bill that if passed, will restore the right of all South Dakota adopted persons, without restriction, to access their original birth certificates upon request. SB 152 is about rights not reunion. It is about the relation of adoptees to the state. It is about the absolute natural right of identity and the civil right to a true unfalsified birth certificate for all South Dakota adoptees. SB 152 as written is a simple-to-understand measure that recognizes the presumed right of all adults to unrestricted access and ownership of their true birth certificates, not just some. If adoptees are not equal legally to the not-adopted in terms receiving their own birth certificates, then the right of anyone to possess their own birth certificate is not a right but a state favor. SB 152 is inclusive. It acknowledges a legally, morally, and ethically correct one-size fits all standard of identity and records rights for all persons– adopted and not adopted. SB 152 does not change adoption procedures. Adoption records are sealed upon finalization, not relinquishment. If the court denies an adoption petition or the petition is withdrawn, the birth record remains unsealed. If Continue Reading →

BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT: SOUTH DAKOTA SB 152 – UNCONDITIONAL ACCESS TO OBC – VOTE YES!

Posted on by — 1 Comment ↓

BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERTSOUTH DAKOTA SB 152 PLEASE FORWARD FREELY. SB 152, a 100% unconditional open records bill, will be voted upon on the floor of the South Dakota Senate on Tuesday, February 16th. Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization, urges everyone to write to the Senators of South Dakota immediately and ask them to vote YES on SB 152, which will give all adoptees equal rights. SB 152 will allow any adoptee 18 years or older to obtain a copy of that person’s original birth certificate upon written application, with no conditions or restrictions. SB 152 is sponsored by Senators Adelstein, Jerstad, and Merchant and Representatives Lederman, Feinstein, Lust, McLaughlin, and Sly.The bill was heard first by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The only change made in committee was omitting a contact preference form in the bill. It was felt that this form was not necessary to the bill. The Senate committee passed the bill with a vote of 4 to 2. Help make 2010 the year South Dakota goes over the top! Please bombard the senators with your letters of rousing support!. You can read the bill at: http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2010/Bill.aspx?File=SB152SHE.htm CONTACT INFORMATION South Dakota has made it Continue Reading →