AN ACT RELATIVE TO CERTIFICATES OF BIRTH RESULTING IN STILLBIRTH.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Chapter 46 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 1 the following section:-
Section 1½. The state registrar shall establish a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth for fetal deaths, as defined in section 202 of chapter 111, occurring in the commonwealth after a gestational period of 20 weeks or more. The certificate shall be issued only at the request of either individual listed as mother or father on the report of fetal death. The certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth shall meet all of the format requirements for a certificate of live birth as provided in this chapter and in section 4 of chapter 17. If the parents of the stillborn child decide not to name the stillborn child, the person preparing a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth shall leave blank any references to the stillborn child's name.
The certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth shall be filed with the state registrar within 10 days after the delivery. When a birth resulting in stillbirth occurring in the commonwealth has not been registered within 1 year after the date of delivery, a certificate marked "delayed" may be filed and registered in accordance with regulations of the department of public health relating to evidentiary and other requirements sufficient to substantiate the alleged facts of birth resulting in stillbirth.