TITLE 39

HEALTH AND SAFETY

CHAPTER 2

VITAL STATISTICS

39-245A.  certificates of birth — material FACTS included — amendments. 

(1)(a)  The legislature finds that:

(i)   There is a compelling interest in maintaining accurate, quantitative, biology-based material facts on Idaho certificates of birth that provide material facts fundamental to the performance of government functions that secure the public health and safety, including but not limited to identifying public health trends, assessing risks, conducting criminal investigations, and helping individuals determine their biological lineage, citizenship, or susceptibility to genetic disorders;

(ii)  The equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States constitution prohibits purposeful discrimination, not facially neutral laws of general applicability, such as a biology-based definition of sex that has been consistently applied since our nation’s founding;

(iii) Decades of court opinion have upheld the argument that biological distinctions between male and female are a matter of scientific fact, and biological sex is an objectively defined category that has obvious, immutable, and distinguishable characteristics;

(iv)  Identification of biological sex on a birth certificate impacts the health and safety of all individuals. For example, the society for evidence-based gender medicine has declared that the conflation of sex and gender in health care is alarming, subjects hundreds of thousands of individuals to the risk of unintended medical harm, and will greatly impede medical research;

(v)   Vital statistics are defined in section 39-241(21), Idaho Code, as data, being the plural of datum, which is a known fact;

(vi)  Idaho certificates of birth are of an evidentiary character and prima facie evidence of the facts recited therein, according to section 39-274, Idaho Code;

(vii) Age and sex, unlike the names of natural parents whose rights have been terminated, are legally applicable facts fundamental to the performance of public and private policies and contracts;

(viii) The failure to maintain accurate, quantitative vital statistics and legal definitions upon which the government and others may with confidence rely constitutes a breach of the public trust; and

(ix)  The government has a compelling interest in maintaining the public trust and confidence and a duty to fulfill, to the best of its ability, those functions that rely on accurate vital statistics.

(b)  Based on the findings in paragraph (a) of this subsection, the legislature directs that an Idaho certificate of birth shall document specific quantitative, material facts at the time of birth, as provided in subsection (2) of this section.

(2)  Any certificate of birth issued under the provisions of this chapter shall include the following quantitative statistics and material facts specific to that birth: time of birth, date of birth, sex, birth weight, birth length, and place of birth.

(3)  For purposes of this chapter, "sex" is as defined in section 73-114, Idaho Code.

(4)  The quantitative statistics and material facts identified in subsection (2) of this section may be amended within one (1) year of the filing of the certificate by submitting to the registrar a notarized affidavit of correction that:

(a)  Is on a form prescribed by the registrar;

(b)  Is signed by:

(i)   The parents identified on the certificate of birth; or

(ii)  The child’s legal guardian;

(c)  Is signed by the physician or other person in attendance who provided the medical information and certified to the facts of birth; and

(d)  Declares that the information contained on the certificate of birth incorrectly represents a material fact at the time of birth.

After one (1) year, the quantitative statistics and material facts identified in subsection (2) of this section may be challenged in court only on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact, with the burden of proof upon the party challenging the acknowledgment.

(5)  In those instances in which an individual suffers from a physiological disorder of sexual development and the individual’s biological sex cannot be recognized at birth as male or female based upon externally observable reproductive anatomy, the physician shall make a presumptive determination of the individual’s sex, which may thereafter be amended based on the appropriate combination of genetic analysis and evaluation of the individual’s naturally occurring internal and external reproductive anatomy as provided in subsection (4) of this section.

(6)  Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, a hospital may correct a birth certificate for a clerical or data entry error at any time by submitting a notarized affidavit on a form specified by the registrar with any appropriate supporting documentation.

History:

[39-245A, added 2020, ch. 334, sec. 2, p. 971; am. 2024, ch. 322, sec. 5, p. 1066.]