Thursday, February 03, 2005
No Marriage Blood Tests
Well, we can cross one item off our wedding To Do List: blood tests. Since 1943, couples applying for marriage licenses in Massachusetts have been required to have blood tests to screen for syphilis and at the same time were offered a voluntary test for rubella. But due to the long term extremely low rate of infection in the population, most states have stopped requiring the screening, and as of last Friday it is no longer required in Massachusetts either.
On a side note, while I was checking the official Commonwelath of Massachusetts website to see if the change is reflected there (it is), I noted that the main "Getting Married or Sharing a Household" page also has a link to "Mass. Law About Same Sex Marriage." This page, maintained by the Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries, provides one-stop shopping for background information as well as links to a wide number of relevant court documents relating to marriage in Massachusetts, including the Goodridge decision as well as several court briefs, the proposed constitutional amendment, the Journal of the Senate in Joint Session during last year's constitutional convention, the decisions in the cases that attempted to halt implementation of Goodridge, links to the current laws, information for out of state couples, and a number of information links including the procedure for waiving the three-day waiting period after obtaining a license, tax issues, a "marriage toolkit," and various news stories.
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On a side note, while I was checking the official Commonwelath of Massachusetts website to see if the change is reflected there (it is), I noted that the main "Getting Married or Sharing a Household" page also has a link to "Mass. Law About Same Sex Marriage." This page, maintained by the Massachusetts Trial Court Libraries, provides one-stop shopping for background information as well as links to a wide number of relevant court documents relating to marriage in Massachusetts, including the Goodridge decision as well as several court briefs, the proposed constitutional amendment, the Journal of the Senate in Joint Session during last year's constitutional convention, the decisions in the cases that attempted to halt implementation of Goodridge, links to the current laws, information for out of state couples, and a number of information links including the procedure for waiving the three-day waiting period after obtaining a license, tax issues, a "marriage toolkit," and various news stories.
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Posted by Rogueslayer at 8:08 AM 
