Providing Birth Certificates in Cases of Stillbirth Set to Become Law in Pennsylvania

June 29, 2011 – The Senate of Pennsylvania unanimously passed legislation sponsored by Sen. Jake Corman to allow a parent to request a “Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth” from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

“This issue was brought to me by a resident of my senatorial district and I am proud that we were able to pass this bill out of the General Assembly”, Sen. Corman said.  “Stillbirths are a tragedy for parents, and often times they feel no sense of closure or healing because there is no documentation of their child’s birth”.

Senate Bill 326 would provide parents with documentation when a child is stillborn, which is very important to many parents of children born silent.

The parents will have the option to include the name of their child, the name of the parents and the birth place on the certificate.

The bill now moves to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law and will become the 28th state to have such a bill in place.  The Governor is expected to sign this legislation, which will take effect in 60 days.

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Devan McGuinness

is the founder and executive director of the award-winning resource Unspoken Grief .

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