Cohen Sponsors Birth Certificate Enhancement Act of 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) recently introduced legislation he authored to provide the needed funding for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to better coordinate the collection of statistics from the 2003 Standard Certificate of Birth by providing funding to states which cannot afford to implement these certificates. The measure – also known as the Birth Certificate Enhancement Act of 2011 – would also give the federal government the necessary funding to collect the data from the states.

“There are more than a dozen states that have not adopted the 2003 Standard Certificate of Birth,” said Congressman Cohen. “These newer birth certificates enable the federal government to collect vital data that can help children and the communities they live in lead happy, healthy lives. My measure would give states the funding they need to complete the transition so that we can effectively collect more comprehensive data about health trends in our country.”

Thirteen states have not implemented the most recent version of our country’s standard certificate of birth. They are: Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Haiwaii, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia.

There are currently two birth certificates in use by states -- the older 1989 certificate and the newer 2003 certificate. A number of experts worked together to improve the data collected through birth and death certificates. The resulting 2003 standard certificate includes much more specificity; the 1989 certificate includes almost solely demographic data (name of mother/father, marital status, date of birth, etc).

The 2003 birth certificate includes critical data for tracking public health trends. The certificate includes information about insurance and access to prenatal care, employment status and education level of parents, labor and delivery complications, delivery methods, congenital anomalies of the newborn, maternal morbidity, mother’s weight and height, breast feeding status, maternal infections, smoking during pregnancy, and a number of other factors.

Due to budget shortfalls, not all states can afford to implement the 2003 certificate and are still using the 1989 document. In fact, 25 percent of the states and territories are not currently using the 2003 Standard Certificate of Birth. This results in incomplete national data for all of these valuable public health indicators -- so our national data on these items is only as good as the worst state. Providing needed funding is essential in order to implement the new 2003 certificate, as well as to collect the data from those forms on a national level.

Congressmen G.K Butterfield (NC-1) and John Conyers (MI-14) are cosponsoring the measure.