Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-10. Birth registration
(a) A certificate of birth for each live birth which occurs in this state shall be filed with the state registrar of vital records, or as otherwise directed by the state registrar, within four (4) days after that birth.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-10
- Institution: means any establishment, public or private, that provides in-patient medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment, or nursing, custodial or domiciliary care to two (2) or more unrelated individuals, or to which persons are committed by law. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Live birth: means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of human conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, that, after that expulsion or extraction, breathes or shows any other evidences of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of the voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
- person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
- Physician: means a person authorized or licensed to practice medicine pursuant to chapter 37 of Title 5. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
- town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
- Vital records: means records of birth, death, fetal death, marriage, divorce, and data related to those records. See Rhode Island General Laws 23-3-1
(b) When a birth occurs in an institution, the person in charge of the institution, or his or her designated representative, shall obtain the personal data; prepare the certificate; secure the signatures required by the certificate; and file it with the state registrar of vital records, or as otherwise directed by the state registrar. The physician and/or midwife in attendance, or his or her authorized designee as defined in department regulations, shall certify to the facts of birth and provide the medical information required by the certificate within three (3) days after the birth.
(c) When a birth occurs outside an institution, the certificate shall be prepared and filed by one of the following in the indicated order of priority:
(1) The physician in attendance at, or immediately after, the birth, or in the absence of a physician;
(2) Any other person in attendance at, or immediately after, the birth, or in the absence of any person in attendance at or immediately after the birth;
(3) The father, the mother, or, in the absence of the father and the inability of the mother, the person in charge of the premises where the birth occurred.
(4) When a birth occurs in a moving conveyance, the place of birth shall be that address in the city or town where the child is first removed from the conveyance.
(d)(1) If the mother was married either at the time of conception or birth, the name of the husband shall be entered on the certificate as the father of the child unless paternity has been determined otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction, in which case the name of the father as determined by the court shall be entered.
(2) [Deleted by P.L. 2020, ch. 59, § 3 and P.L. 2020, ch. 60, § 3].
(e) The state registrar shall not decline to register and/or issue any birth certificate or certified copy of any birth certificate on the grounds that medical or health information collected for statistical purposes has not been supplied.
History of Section.
G.L. 1896, ch. 100, § 6; G.L. 1909, ch. 121, § 6; G.L. 1909, ch. 121, § 6; P.L. 1921, ch. 2096, § 3; P.L. 1921, ch. 2096, § 3; G.L. 1923, ch. 166, § 5; G.L. 1938, ch. 268, § 5; G.L. 1956, §§ 23-3-3, 23-3-5; G.L. 1956, § 23-3-10; P.L. 1961, ch. 87, § 1; P.L. 1984, ch. 261, § 1; P.L. 1985, ch. 459, § 1; P.L. 1986, ch. 198, § 11; P.L. 1987, ch. 327, § 1; P.L. 1991, ch. 273, § 1; P.L. 2000, ch. 164, § 1; P.L. 2014, ch. 193, § 1; P.L. 2020, ch. 59, § 3; P.L. 2020, ch. 60, § 3.