BIRTH

birth. The complete extrusion of a newborn baby from the mother’s body. • The quotation below states the traditional legal view of birth. In a few jurisdictions, the state of the law may be changing. In South Carolina, for example, a child does not have to be born alive to be a victim of murder; a woman can be convicted of fetal murder if her baby is stillborn because of the mother’s prenatal drug abuse.

“For purposes of criminal law — and also for those of property law, e.g. to become a holder of property and so transmit it again to new heirs, or to enable the father to obtain curtesy of his wife’s lands — birth consists in extrusion from the mother’s body, i.e. in having ‘come into the world.’ If but a foot be unextricated, there can be no murder, the extrusion must be complete, the whole body of the infant must have been brought into the world. But it is not necessary that the umbilical cord should have been severed. And to be born alive the child must have been still in a living state after having wholly quitted the body of the mother.” J.W. Cecil Turner, Kenny’s Outlines of Criminal Law 104 (16th ed. 1952). BIRTH CERTIFICATE

birth certificate.A formal document that records a person’s birthdate, birthplace, and parentage. • In all 50 states, an adopted child receives a second birth certificate reflecting his or her adoptive parents. In such a case, the original birth certificate is usu. sealed and can be opened only by court order. Some states allow limited access, depending on the year when an adoptee was born and (sometimes) on whether the birth parents consent. The trend today is to open records if (1) both the child and the biological parent consent — for example, through an adoption registry, or (2) the child requests and, upon notification, the biological parent does not veto the request. Oregon enacted the first statute to permit access to birth records upon the unilateral demand of the adopted child, once the child reaches the age of majority. See ADOPTION-REGISTRY STATUTE. [Cases: Health  397.][Blacks Law 8th]