When it comes to tracing family roots, no one does it
better than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mormons, who believe that blood lines tie them together
both on earth and in the afterlife, have compiled the
most comprehensive genealogical library in the world
in Salt Lake City. Yet they also are leading the fight
to keep thousands of Oregon adoptees from learning about
their origins.
This week, the Oregon Court of Appeals will hear oral
arguments on the challenge against Measure 58, which
was supposed to go into effect more than a year ago.
The initiative allows adopted adults to request a copy
of their original, sealed birth certificates, which
may contain identifying information about their birth
parents. The law has never been implemented because
six anonymous birth mothers sued to protect their identities.
They lost the first round last July and immediately
appealed.
Although the LDS church hasn't taken an official position
on the measure or the appeal, some of its members are
at the center of the battle.
The six birth mothers challenging the law are represented
by Franklin Hunsaker, a local lawyer who is an adoptive
father and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.
Hunsaker was recruited for the case by Bill Pierce,
president of the National Council for Adoption, a lobbying
and educational group out of Washington, D.C., that
represents adoption agencies.
More than half the member agencies of the NCFA are
affiliated with the LDS, and LDS Social Services is
the only member of the group from Oregon.
Even though he has Hunsaker on the case, Pierce filed
a brief against Measure 58 in the court appeal. It was
written by a lawyer at the law firm of Kirton &
McConkie in Salt Lake City--the same law firm that represents
the interests of the church. Say the name McConkie to
a Mormon and he'll know who you're talking about. Bruce
McConkie was an "apostle"--a member of the Council of
Twelve--until his death in 1985. The council, along
with members of the First Presidency, are the principal
policy-makers for the Church.
Neither Hunsaker nor Pierce was available to talk for
this story, but Pierce has been an outspoken, and at
times outraged, spokesman not only against Measure 58
but against open adoption records in general. The distinction
is telling.
Most Measure 58 critics say they wouldn't mind changing
the law to give future Oregon adoptees access to their
birth certificates. It's the retroactive nature of the
law that bothers them. Pierce, however, has testified
before Congress and appeared in the national media decrying
the open-records movement in general. He argues that
opening birth certificates to adult adoptees, now or
in the future, takes away a woman's right to choose
adoption because it eliminates the possibility of privacy.
That view is reflected at LDS Social Services, which
has offices in Portland and Salem. The agency completes
about 20 adoptions per year and works exclusively with
LDS adoptive parents, although it will accept babies
of any denomination. It does adoptions the old-fashioned
way: in complete secrecy. LDS Social Services is the
only agency in the state that does closed adoptions
exclusively.
Most birth mothers want at least some degree of disclosure
between the birth parents and adoptive parents. Lloyd
Campbell, director of LDS Social Services, admits that
the insistence on secrecy may be one reason his agency
has a one- to two-year waiting list for adoptive parents.
Still, he defends the policy.
"We just feel that non-disclosed adoptions provide
protection for the birth mother and adoptive parents,"
he says.
The Mormons' drive to keep birth certificates sealed
seems to be a mixture of theological conviction and
social pressure.
All adoptions legally sever the ties of a child's birth
family and transfer them to a new family. Mormons take
it a step further. In a Mormon adoption, the child is
eternally "sealed" to its new family in the same way
a wife is sealed to her husband's family. According
to Mormon belief, in the eyes of God, all ties to an
adoptee's prior lineage are severed forever after. Given
that view, there is no need for an adopted child ever
to know about his birth mother or other blood relatives.
Concerns of the flesh, however, may be as much of a
factor as concerns of the soul. In an era where single
motherhood is common, Mormons expect both women and
men to be virgins when they get married. The 1950s-era
stigma associated with unwed motherhood continues in
the LDS church. Elders strongly encourage young women
to give their babies up for adoption and put their sins
behind them. In a closed adoption, Campbell says, "The
birth mothers can go on with the rest of their lives."
Terri Leber, president of the National Council of Birthmothers,
says LDS leaders, in their opposition to Measure 58
and open adoptions, are misrepresenting the views held
by most women.
"LDS and NCFA, who represent less than 3 percent of
agencies in this country, are inaccurately proclaiming
they represent birthmothers in an effort to stop the
extension of equal rights to our sons and daughters,"
Leber says.
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Willamette Week | originally
published November 23,
1999
