Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOSEPH CRYAN
District 20 (Union)
Assemblyman JAY WEBBER
District 26 (Morris and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblyman Conners
SYNOPSIS
Permits parent of stillborn child to request certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth directly from State registrar.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning certificates of birth resulting in stillbirth and amending R.S.26:8-37.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. R.S.26:8-37 is amended to read as follows:
26:8-37. a. A stillborn child shall be registered as a fetal death as required by R.S.26:6-11.
b. (1) The State registrar shall establish a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth, subject to the provisions of paragraph (2) of this subsection, which shall contain such items as shall be listed on a form provided or approved by the State registrar pursuant to subsection c. of R.S.26:8-24, for an unintended, intrauterine fetal death occurring in this State after a gestational period of 20 or more weeks. This certificate shall be offered to the parent of a stillborn child.
(2) The certificate shall be provided by the State Registrar upon the parent's written request [that is], which may be transmitted to the State registrar directly by the parent or, at the parent’s option, by a licensed health care professional on the parent's behalf.
(3) The person who prepares a certificate pursuant to this subsection shall leave blank any references to the stillborn child's name if the stillborn child's parent does not wish to provide a name for the stillborn child.
(4) The certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth shall be filed with the local registrar of the district in which the birth resulting in stillbirth occurred within three days following receipt by the State registrar of the parent's request for the certificate.
(5) When a birth resulting in stillbirth occurring in this State has not been registered within one year after the date of delivery, a certificate marked "delayed" may be filed and registered.
(cf: P.L.2003, c.312, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect on the 60th day after enactment and shall apply to stillbirths that occurred before, on, or after the effective date.
STATEMENT
This bill amends R.S.26:8-37
to permit the parent of a stillborn child, who wishes to obtain a certificate
of birth resulting in stillbirth, to make a written request directly to the
State registrar for
the certificate without a licensed health care professional being required to do
so on the parent’s behalf. The parent could opt to make the written request
through a licensed health care professional, as the statute currently requires,
if the parent did not wish to submit the request directly to the State
registrar. As is now the case, the written request would be made on a form
designed by the State registrar, who would create a certificate of birth
resulting in stillbirth based on information obtained from a fetal death
certificate already on file with the State registrar.
The bill takes effect on the 60th day after enactment and applies to stillbirths that occurred before, on, or after the effective date.