SOURCE: "MUSCATINE JOURNAL", Muscatine, Iowa, Tuesday, January 1, 1917

NEW BIRTH LAW NOW EFFECTIVE
New Law Makes It Necessary To File A Record
In Case the Child is Not Named Supplemental Blank is Furnished But Ten Days Are Allowed

Is your baby registered? Beginning today every baby in the state born in the state must be registered with the county clerk.
It is the first time the state has given official recognition of births although efforts have been made by statisticians to get such a law on the statute books.
Most of the states have had laws for years making it necessary to record births as well as marriages and deaths. The last general assembly met the deficiency in this state by enacting a law which is effective today. The section of the new law which refer to births are as follows:

That for the complete and proper registration of births, for legal, sanitary and statistical purposes the clerk of the district court of each county shall be the county registrar, and it shall be his duty to inform all physicians, midwives, should there, be any midwives, and the people in general in his county that all births must be properly reported to the clerk of the district court in the manner prescribed in section six (6) of this act:

That a certificate of birth of the standard form adopted by the United States census bureau shall be made out by physician midwife, or other person attending the birth of every child born in the state of Iowa or in default of such person by the parent, householder, superintendent of an institution, or other responsible person, and filed with the clerk of the district court in the county where the child is born within ten days after birth.

If Child is Not Named
In case the child is not named, the clerk of the district court shall deliver a supplementary blank for report to given name to the person filing the certificate, to be filled out and returned as soon as the child shall be named, and which shall be attached to the birth certificate of the child which has been previously reported and not named.

The difference between the new law and the old law is principally that under the old law births are reported to the assessors and under the new law the birth is certified to the clerk of the district court, within ten days after the birth. All births during the year, 1917 are to be reported to the assessors as here before.

In order to facilitate the work, it is desired that the child in question be named before the certificate is sent in. The record will then be complete and no supplemental report will be necessary.

Back to Birth Information Page