Judge strikes down adoption ban

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LITTLE ROCK — A circuit judge Friday struck down a state law banning unmarried couples from adopting and serving as foster parents.

Act 1 unconstitutionally burdens non-marital relationships and acts of sexual intimacy between adults by forcing them to choose between becoming a parent and having any meaningful type of intimate relationship outside of marriage, Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled in a lawsuit challenging the initiative voters approved in 2008.

“It infringes upon the fundamental right to privacy guaranteed to all citizens of Arkansas,” the wrote in a two-page order in the suit brought by the ACLU.

State Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, whose office defended the law, said late Friday a decision on whether to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court had not been made.

http://arkansasnews.com/2010/04/16/judge-strikes-down-adoption-ban/

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