Advocates like Sharon Wemple have been fighting for years to make long-form birth certificates available to adoptees.

"This has been a long time coming," Wemple said. "I've been doing this for 20-some-odd years."

It is now one step closer to becoming law in New York State after a bill passed both houses of the legislature this month allowing adoptees to look up their birth records when they turn 18 and find out who their birth parents are. Previously, those records have been sealed under the terms of the adoption.

• The fight in New York for adoptees to access their birth records

"This bill is really important to me," Wemple said. "I'm an adoptee. I found my family when I was 30 years old. I have 11 siblings. And I was able to get my health history, which was very important to me."

Medical history is often cited by advocates as one of the key reasons why the information should be made available. But some have also argued it's a civil rights issue, and vital infomation like birth records should not be denied to anyone.

"This is about equality," said Annette O'Connell of the Adoptee Rights Coalition. "The people have spoken, and the legislators have spoken, and the leadership within our government have actually heard us and listened to it."

A previous version of the bill that would have allowed certain redactions was passed by the legislature in 2017 and vetoed by Governor Andrew Cuomo. David Weprin was the sponsor of the old bill, and the new one that just passed.

"This is that simple bill that Governor Cuomo asked for, and I'm optimistic that the governor will sign it," Weprin said.

But the Cuomo administration has been noncommittal about its intentions.

"If you may recall, when the first version of the bill was passed, there were strong objections from the advocacy community. The bill has now been modified. But we have to take a closer look at it to make sure the concerns have been addressed," said Alphonso David, counsel to the governor.

New York would be become the ninth state to make birth certificates availbale to all. Two of those states had no form of sealed adoptions to begin with. The bill passed the New York legislature with enough votes to override the governor, should he veto the bill, but the legislature has never overriden Cuomo's veto before.