i am a labor nurse, who takes care of both the mother and the stillborn baby. i also live in massachusetts, and i am pretty sure the stillborns don't get a birth certificate. we do provide a non official certificate of birth, not live birth like a birth certificate is, but one that will include the statistics everyone wants, such as weight and length, date and time of birth. we take pictures, and treat everyone involved in a respectful manner, because usually this is someones tragedy we are dealing with.

i don't think official birth certificates should be issued for stillborn babies. it won't help anyone cope with anything so tragic as losing a wanted and loved baby. that will take time, and support from family and friends. i also think there is a legal precedent for tax purposes, if a child is liveborn, the parents are able to claim them in the year they are born, even if they live only for a very brief time. (i don't have the exact rules on this, and could be very wrong about it.)

whatever happens, it is bound to make someone unhappy. i do think the anti abortion people are probably involved in this idea.

Uneducated masses

We're having the same problem as the founders did when they founded this great experiment - uneducated masses. They were afraid that uneducated masses would pick terrible leaders. Even with all the technology and information overload that we have today - people still go with their gut. Damn common sense or their own best interest, it's all about the hype.

-- roymathew

so true, i have often thought that the reason education is so underfunded and undervalued in the USA is that the republican hierachy is afraid that if the electorate had a little education they would never put up with the foolishness that has been foisted on us for the last 7 and a half years. if they keep them uneducated and stupid, they won't be able to think for themselves and will keep on believing everything as reported on fox news.

i can't wait for a democratic presidency again, i would love to see a balanced budget, and for any raises i get to actually show up in my paycheck.

since when did an official copy of a birth certificate, one that you might obtain at your city or state office of births, have to be a copy of the original? i know that when i got mine, it was a registrars copy, but official with a raised seal and stamp. they don't photocopy the original. those are kept in state archives, and recorded in books. i guess they might be on the computers now, but the really old ones are on microfiche. have you ever done any geneology? the records (at least in massachusetts) are kept in huge books, with the information all on one line. the paper birth certificates are just something they give you when you need one.

"*** My guess? Her records would likely show that her first child was conceived outside of wedlock. ***

Sarah and Todd Palin on Aug 29, 1988.

Track Palin was born on April 20, 1989.

That's 248 days. Normal pregancy runs 266 days so Sarah was knocked up by 18 days. Maybe."

actually a pregnacy with a due date of april 20, would require conception to occur on july 28th. so, she was 6 weeks along when she got married, {and that is because pregnancy is calculated from last menstrual period, not date of conception. (strange but true)}

and i also noticed Jesse Jackson in the crowd, however briefly. i shared the overwhelming joy and wept uncontrollably, and i am a 50 year old white woman, who is so proud of this country, that we finally can live up to what Martin Luther King Jr. and men like Jesse Jackson worked so hard for all these years.