TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush signed a bill Friday repealing the "Scarlet Letter Law" that required mothers who put children up for adoption to publish their sexual histories when necessary to locate the father.
House bill 835, which passed both houses unanimously, instead establishes a paternity registry where men who believe they have fathered children can enroll so they can be contacted if their children are offered for adoption.
Senate bill 2526, which Bush also signed, exempts the registry from disclosure under public records laws.
The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled last month that the requirement that women, including rape victims and underage girls, reveal their sexual partners was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
The law that is repealed was dubbed the "Scarlet Letter Law" after the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel about a woman who is forced to wear the letter A after she commits adultery.
The law required a mother to publish her name, age and description, along with descriptions of any men who could have fathered the child in newspapers in every city where the child could have been conceived.
Its intent was to prevent biological fathers from challenging adoptions after the fact and disrupting newly formed family bonds by claiming they never knew about the birth and never had a chance to claim custody.
