NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Every child born in New Jersey has a small blood sample tested for various diseases and illnesses. Lawmakers say those samples have been used in criminal investigations without a warrant and have introduced legislation to change that.
Dozens of diseases and illnesses are tested with those blood spots. The problem is, according to Assemblyman Dan Hutchison, police can and have gained access to them without a warrant.
“You know, it’s the old slippery slope argument,” Hutchison said. “If we create an exception whereby we can access this information, and we can do so without a warrant, we diminish the importance of the Fourth Amendment.”
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects from unreasonable searches and seizures by police. Hutchison says his bill would return those rights to citizens.
“These protections are critically important,” he said. “And I am not willing to simply allow them to be eroded.”
The bill has received committee approval in the assembly.