Oregon Judge Upholds Open Records Law
Dateline: 07/19/99Updated: 05/30/00
The US Supreme Court has rejected a last-minute emergency plea to delay Measure 58. Records opened in Oregon as of 5 :01 PM today, May 30, 2000.
Previous Ruling
In a decision announced on Friday, July 16, 1999, Marian County Circuit Court Judge Paul Lipscomb found against the plaintiffs and upheld Measure 58 which was voted into law last November in a general election. The law allows adults adopted in Oregon unrestricted access to their original birth certificates. The ruling has been challenged since that time through the state appeals process, and finally to the US Supreme Court.
Recapping the Issue
With the exception of Alaska and Kansas (unconditionally) and a few other states with restrictions such as vetoes, when an adult adoptee requests a copy of her/his birth certificate through the customary application process, what is provided is an amended copy showing the names of the adoptive parent(s) only. Supporters of the Oregon initiative argued that adult adoptees are entitled to the same right of access (to original birth certificates) as other adult Americans.
The Challenge
Shortly after Measure 58 was approved by voters in the general election, four birth mothers took their case to court to challenge the law. One of the women dropped out, and three more joined before the matter came before the court. The six women, who maintained their anonymity throughout, claimed:
- that statutes of the Oregon and US Constitutions should be read as a guarantee of "absolute privacy and confidentiality" for all parties to an adoption (adoptees, adoptive parents, birth parents);
- the new law violates matters of "intimate personal privacy;"
- the law violates the plaintiffs' right to "equal protection;"
- their "fundamental personal liberties" will being violated by the law;
- that the plaintiffs' "rights to freely exercise their religion and their rights of conscience" will be violated;
- that the state cannot enforce the law due to the existence of "prior laws and representations..."
JUDGE PAUL LIPSCOMB:
No Contractual Right
"Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate either any contractual right to absolute privacy and confidentiality, or any impermissible impairment of any such rights."
The decision denied each count of the suit, finding that there were "no remaining questions of material fact which would justify a trial..." Ruling on the constitutionality of the law, Judge Lipscomb said, "...this court may not set aside Measure 58 unless it runs afoul of the Oregon or United States Constitutions. It is my conclusion that it does not."
In July, Oregon Governor Kitzhaber signed into law HB3194, an amendment to Measure 58. The Bill provides for a "Voluntary Contact Preference Form" attached to the original birth certificate. The form would indicate the birth parent(s) preferences regarding contact.
The decision offers hope to adoptee rights activists across the nation who are trying to get similar legislation passed in other states.
More information on open records and legislative reform can be found at Bastard Nation (adoptee rights) and the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute (adoption advocacy and research).
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