Alabama

Original birth certificate (OBC) is made available to adoptee, age 18 or older, upon request.  Birth parents may file a non-binding Contact Preference Form, requesting direct contact with adopted adult, contact through an intermediary, or no contact at all.

Since the law passed in May 2000, approximately 2,722 adult adoptees have obtained copies of their original birth certificates with 131 Contact Preference Forms filed.
(State is not tracking the type of preference.)

Between 2000 and 2003 (the last year for which national data are available) resident abortions declined 13% in Alabama compared to 2% in the nation as a whole.
Alabama Center for Health Statistics, Division of Statistical Analysis, Induced Terminations of Pregnancy for Residents of Alabama, 2000-2003;

Finer and Henshaw, Estimates of U.S. Abortion Incidence 2001-2003, Guttmacher
Institute, August 3, 2006

Alaska
(always open)

Alaska provides access to adoptee, 18 and older, and birth parents of adoptee, 18 and older, if the adoptee gives written permission to release of information.

Alaska never sealed birth certificates for adopted persons.

Alaska, a state that never sealed birth certificates, has the nation’s highest adoption rate (Source) and one of the lowest abortion rates. (Source)

Delaware

Birthparents have the option of filing a veto against disclosure. If a disclosure veto is filed, the OBC is not released to the adoptee.

From January 1999 to October 2006, 695 adult adoptees have received OBCs with 16 adoptees getting incomplete OBCs under the disclosure veto provisions of the law.

Kansas
(always open)

Grants access to the adoption file and to the OBC of adopted adults, 18 and older, birth parents and adoptive parents of minor child.  Birthparents may contact the adopted adult if he/she agrees to contact.

Kansas never sealed birth certificates for adopted persons.

Kansas, a state that never closed records, has the nation’s fifth highest adoption rate (Source).

Kansas has lower resident abortion rates than the United States as a whole.
(Source)

Maine

Original birth certificate is made available to adoptee, 18 or older, upon request. Birth parents may file nonbinding Contact Preference Form.

Maine’s bill will take effect, January 1, 2009.

Maine’s bill will take effect, January 1, 2009.

New
Hampshire

Original birth certificate is made available to adoptee, age 18 or older, upon request. Birth parents may file nonbinding Contact Preference Form.

Since January, 2005, nearly 1103 adoptees have received their OBCs and 12 birthparents have stated their preference for no contact.
(Source)

Current adoption and abortion data are not yet available for the years following passage of New Hampshire’s access bill.

Oregon

Original birth certificate is made available to adoptee, age 21 or older, upon request. Birth parents may file a non-binding Contact Preference Form.

In the ten years since adoptees obtained access, 9748 adoptees have requested and 9,371 adoptees have received OBCs with 85 birthparents wishing to use an intermediary and 29 wishing no contact.
(Source)

Between 2000 and 2003 (the last year for which national data are available) resident
abortions declined 10% in Oregon compared to 2% in the nation as a whole.
Oregon Vital Statistics Annual Reports, Vol. 1, Table 3-6. 2000-2003;
Finer and Henshaw, Estimates of U.S. Abortion Incidence 2001-2003, Guttmacher
Institute, August 3, 2006.
After adoptee access, a six-year year decline in adoptions stopped and adoption numbers leveled off, according to statistics from the Oregon State Office for Children, Adult and Family Services

Tennessee

Adoptees, age 21 or older, may access OBC and adoption records unless records indicate that adoptee was product of rape or incest and birth parent victim does not consent to disclosure. Birth parent may veto contact.

Tennessee stats have not been successfully tracked by the state.

Tennessee has lower resident abortion rates than the United States as a whole.
(Source)