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Committee advances bill letting adult adoptees request original birth records without court petition
Summary
The Judiciary Committee favorably recommended HB 129 to allow adult adoptees to obtain their original birth certificates without first showing "good cause" in court; debate centered on balancing adoptee access and birth-parent privacy.
Representative Ward, sponsor of HB 129, told the committee the bill would simplify access for adult adoptees to obtain their original birth certificates without the current requirement to show "good cause" in court.
"The first reason we should do that is it belongs to them," Representative Ward said, arguing that an original birth record is an adult adoptee's personal record and that access helps with medical history and personal identity.
Ward described a recent Utah Supreme Court case that remanded a lower-court denial back to district court because the judge had not adequately balanced…
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