by Marianne Means

About the author: Marianne Means is a syndicated columnist.

The Supreme Court this week [in May 2000] declined to block an Oregon law allowing adult adoptees access to their birth records without the prior consent of their biological parents.

This may not be the high court’s last word on this emotional issue. But the action freed Oregon to go ahead with an experiment that a group of biological mothers had tried to legally stop. And it could eventually eliminate the secrecy that has traditionally protected the privacy of adoptions throughout this country. This is a classic case of a clash of individual rights. Whose are more important"

Adults who have been adopted but have no idea of their ancestry are understandably curious...