A bill that would have made it easier for thousands of Indiana adoptees to access their original birth certificates is officially dead.
The bill would have opened up access to birth certificatesfor those who were adopted between 1941 and 1993 – the period when Indiana sealed all adoption records.
A House committee stalled the legislation last month, saying it wanted to address concerns raised during a hearing.
Opponents of the measure argue the bill would infringe on the privacy promised to mothers who gave their children up for adoption during the sealed records period.
With less than a month before the session ends, legislators are bumping the bill to focus on other priorities.
That's disappointing to advocates who fought for the measure, including Hoosiers for Equal Access to Records president Pam Kroskie.
"I think it was like letting the air out of a balloon," Kroskie says. "I cried and I was so just sad and I didn't know what to do, I didn't know where I was supposed to go now."
Kroskie, who was adopted, says unsealing records would make it easier for adoptees to get important information about their family's medical histories.
She plans to fight for similar legislation next year.