When state Rep. Charles Owen went searching for his birth certificate last year, he hit a frustrating dead end: under Louisiana law, adoption records are under seal, available only through a court order.
Born in New Orleans, and adopted from the Methodist Home for Unwed Mothers, Owen had re-connected with his birth mother decades earlier. But the lack of access to his own records irked him.
So, Owen, a Republican from Rosepine, drafted House Bill 450. The proposal would allow adults adopted as children, who are at least 24 years old, to obtain an uncertified copy of their birth certificate from the state register of vital records without having to petition the court.
“To me, this is very simple,” Owen said Tuesday at a hearing of the House Committee on Civil Law and Procedure, labeling it an issue of “equal protection for people who are trying to find out their name, where they were born and their story as much as they can.”
But the proposal is facing pushback from anti-abortion groups, who argue that it tramples on the agreement Louisiana made with birth parents who chose adoption over abortion.