Seventy-Eight US Congress members signed this letter and support this legislation permitting discrimination exemptions for religious U.S. adoption agencies. If signed into law, any religious adoption agency could cite the law to deny service to U.S. citizens, including the intended target: same-sex adopting couples.
VIRGINIA – According to this report, an adoptive family leave bill for state employees just passed the state senate and will now move to the House which is likely to receive strong support given that the House Appropriations Chairman is an adoptive parent. The cost for state employees taking an adoption leave is expected valued at approximately $839,000 per year.
A lesbian married couple praises new proposed Ontario legislation that, if approved, would recognize the non-biological parent as a legal parent without requiring an adoption.
Pennsylvania has proposed new legislation in the areas of time that (a) birthparents can revoke surrender of parental rights; and (b) appearances in Court.
The proposed legislation would decrease birthparent’s ability to revoke surrender of parental rights (30 days to 14 days), and also require court to schedule hearing for birthparent to relinquish rights in court for no more than 20 days after filing of the petition to relinquish parental rights.
It appears that women who wish to donate their eggs for medical research in California are statutorily prohibited from receiving compensation for time, discomfort, and inconvenience and may only receive payment for direct expenses.
The reasons to continue the ban on expanding compensation can be found here which are: (1) lack of knowledge on long-term health consequences; (2) women are not research subjects; and (3) paying women for eggs for research contradicts national recommendations and state policy.
An effort to expand compensation to egg donors for medical research was recently made and can be found here and is currently being reviewed by the California legislature.
A Bill in Pennsylvania is reported to offer parents adoption-related counseling services to parents considering placing a child for adoption. The bill was first introduced on October 7, 2015 and on June 21, 2016 it received a 198-0 vote on third consideration and final passage.
Report that Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana signed a surrogacy bill into law this week. This new law changes the presumption that a woman who gives birth may always be the legal mother. Effective as of August 1, 2016, the new law sets forth the required steps and process to establish the legal relationships between the gestational carrier, biological parent(s), and child. This is a reversal from Gov. Edwards predecessor, Gov. Bobby Jindal, who vetoed similar bills in 2013 and 2014.
Report from Boston Globe that on May 19, 2016, U.S. Representative Tom Marino (R-PA-10), introduced a BILL for consideration that seeks to direct the US State Department’s attention away from International Adoption red tape which have caused a substantial decline since 2004 arguing that children’s human rights are harmed by being institutionalized in foreign countries.
The thrust of the argument appears to place more importance and spotlighting the freeing institutionalized children for adoption and avoiding the reasons for the red tape which might include safeguards for children to avoid kidnapping, baby selling, etc.
Report that Portuguese President vetoed Surrogacy Bill involving gestational carriers but did approve of lesbian couples and single women conceiving through IVF.
New York Times reports: Attorney Sergei Magnitsky died in a Russian prison after allegedly accusing the police of stealing $230 million in fraudulent tax rebates.
Mr. Magnitsky’s death led Congress to blacklist Russian officials for rights abuses causing the Russians to retaliate by banning US Citizens from adopting.
A new documentary – The Magnitsky Act – suggests Mr. Magnitsky was not attempting to blow the whistle but was an accomplice in the theft.
