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Rep. Karen McRae, R-Goffstown, argued the bill broke promises with mothers who gave up their children for adoption expecting never to have to publicly face them.
"It breaks faith with all those birth parents who have given up their children with the expectation of privacy and anonymity," she said.
"Don't birth parents have rights, too?"
Rep. Thomas Arnold, R-Brookline, who has three adopted children, agreed the bill was a matter of balancing interests.
"It's true that between 1973 and mid-1980s many were promised anonymity when they gave up their child," he said.
"That was never a condition of the law. Those agencies and individuals had no right to offer that promise."
Arnold said he believes it's time for New Hampshire to give children access to this information.
"You can't correct one without hurting the other," he said. "It's a question of which is the greater right. I come down on the side of the kid who never had a chance.
Rep. Phyllis Woods, R-Dover, who opposed the bill, said groups on both sides of the abortion rights issue oppose this bill, along with some of the state's largest adoption agencies.
But Rep. Janet Allen, R-Nashua, said abortion rates have not gone up in the half-dozen states that allow access to these records.
Allen, 51, said she spent three years trying to obtain her own original birth certificate.
"Was this wrong of me? I don't think so. Why should I be denied my heritage due to a contract I never signed, I didn't approve of and I didn't participate in?",she asked rhetorically.
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The House of Representatives overwhelmingly endorsed legislation Thursday giving adopted children access to the identity of their birth parents once they turn 18 years old.
But Gov. Craig Benson may opt to block the four-year effort of Democratic Sen. Lou D'Allesandro of Manchester, according to a spokesman.
Benson registered his opposition to this bill (SB 335) at a public hearing earlier this month because it could act as an impediment to adoptions in the future.
"The governor has worked hard to streamline the adoption process, and he has serious concerns this bill would go in the wrong direction," said Keith Herman, Benson's legislative adviser.
Herman said the most objectionable part of the bill would give the access retroactively to all children who were adopted, not merely to those who turn 18 after the law would take effect.
"The governor thinks this should be closely looked at," he said.
The House approved the bill, 223-103, which would meet the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a Benson veto were one to occur.
The Senate Jud. committee only passed this bill by a 12-11 margin, however.
"I'm pleased with what the House has done," said D'Allesandro, who has two adopted children. "They heard the message loud and clear these adopted children deserve justice."
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