Adoption records bill heading to Mike Pence's desk

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By: Aric Chokey/Associated Press

(Source: https://goo.gl/oLWs3R License: https://goo.gl/VAhsB)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Adoptees born between 1941 and 1994 may soon be able to access their birth records under a bill passed by the Indiana House.

The bill passed in a 72-24 vote Monday and now heads to Gov. Mike Pence’s desk.

The measure would reverse a 1994 measure that sealed adoption information that didn’t have a disclosure consent form. That means records would be made available beginning in July 2018 unless the biological parents file another non-disclosure form with the Indiana State Department of Health. The bill would also give biological parents additional contact preference options for new adoption cases.

Open-records advocates have argued adoptees need important birth information such as their medical histories. Opponents maintain biological parents should have their own right to privacy.