Florida's new adoption law requires women to publish their sexual histories in newspapers before putting a child up for private adoption. This change in the law punishes women -- including minors and rape and incest victims -- for their sexual behavior.
The new law, ratified last October, requires a pregnant woman to publish names of partners, physical descriptions and locations where conception may have taken place if she does not know the father's identity. Overall, there are more than 1.5 million adopted children in the United States, accounting for 2 percent of all U.S. children, according to recent census figures.
Florida, which ranks fourth nationwide in adoptions, after California, New York and Texas, is the only state with such a law. "We do these publications every week and they are horrible, degrading and they are reminiscent of 'The Scarlet Letter,'" Jeanne Tate, executive vice president of the Florida Association of Adoption Professionals, told Ms. magazine.
The main proponent of the new law, state Sen. Walter Campbell, asserts that without this law, "we have potential biological fathers coming back and taking children out of adoptive parents' hands." But veteran adoption lawyer Alvin M. Coen says this is not the case. "In my experience, it is very unlikely that the 'father' of the child will make any effort to block the adoption or attempt to get custody of the child himself."
The irony in all this is that a woman in Florida does not need to consult the biological father to get an abortion. The emotional burden of disclosing your sexual history to your entire city -- your neighbors, your coworkers -- will only complicate the moral dilemma some women experience when deciding whether to have an abortion or to put their children up for adoption.
Women who still opt for adoption will have a strong incentive to go through unofficial channels. This could lead to a burgeoning underground market for illegal and unregulated adoptions. Also, this new law could discourage potential adoptive families because the adoption process is not as private as was formerly guaranteed by federal and state laws.
Florida's law used to state, "All adoption hearings (must be) held in closed court." It further stipulated that "identifying information regarding the birth parent, adoptive parent or adoptee cannot be released from the record." This 180-degree change sets a dangerous precedent. It does not encourage safer sex or monogamy or faithfulness, which is what's really needed to stem the tide of unwanted and fatherless children. Instead, it publicly brands women and castigates them for their private behavior.
This was barbaric in Nathaniel Hawthorne's day. It's even more so today.
Juleyka Lantigua is a free-lance journalist in New York City. This column was produced for the Progressive Media Project, which is run by The Progressive magazine, and distributed by the Tribune News Service.