Vital Statistics Act
New Mexico · Health and Safety · §§ 24-14-1 to 24-14-9 · 31 sections
Overview
The Vital Statistics Act governs the official recording of life events — births, deaths, fetal deaths, adoptions, paternity determinations, and terminations of pregnancy — and creates a centralized vital statistics program headed by a state registrar, supported by local and deputy registrars and implemented through administrative regulations. It requires the timely filing of birth and death certificates, specifies who must report and what each record must contain, and provides procedures for delayed, amended, presumptive, and newly established certificates, including sealing original records after adoption or a change in parentage. It also regulates conduct that depends on those records, such as authorizing burial, cremation, disinterment, and the disposition of unclaimed or fetal remains, and directs that certain reported data be compiled into public statistical reports.
Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.
In the courts
Sections of this act have been cited in 2 court decisions.
Most-cited authority: 107 F.4th 548 - Kayla Gore v. William Lee
Sections covered
- § 24-14-1 NMSA 1978Short title
- § 24-14-12 NMSA 1978Form and contents of certificates and reports
- § 24-14-13 NMSA 1978Birth registration
- § 24-14-14 NMSA 1978Unknown parentage; foundling registration
- § 24-14-15 NMSA 1978Delayed registration of births
- § 24-14-16 NMSA 1978Judicial procedure to establish facts of birth
- § 24-14-17 NMSA 1978New birth certificates following adoption, legitimation and paternity determination
- § 24-14-18 NMSA 1978Repealed
- § 24-14-19 NMSA 1978Adoption of foreign-born; certificate of birth
- § 24-14-2 NMSA 1978Definitions
- § 24-14-20 NMSA 1978Death registration
- § 24-14-21 NMSA 1978Delayed registration of death
- § 24-14-22 NMSA 1978Reports of spontaneous fetal death
- § 24-14-22.1 NMSA 1978Certificates of still birth
- § 24-14-23 NMSA 1978Permits; authorization for final disposition
- § 24-14-24 NMSA 1978Extension of time
- § 24-14-25 NMSA 1978Correction and amendment of vital records2 cites
- § 24-14-26 NMSA 1978Reproduction of records
- § 24-14-27 NMSA 1978Disclosure of records
- § 24-14-28 NMSA 1978Copies or data from the system of vital statistics
- § 24-14-29 NMSA 1978Fees for copies and searches
- § 24-14-29.1 NMSA 1978Day-care fund created; use; appropriation
- § 24-14-3 NMSA 1978Vital records and health statistics bureau; state system
- § 24-14-30 NMSA 1978Duty to furnish information
- § 24-14-31 NMSA 1978Penalties
- § 24-14-4 NMSA 1978State registrar; appointment
- § 24-14-5 NMSA 1978Duties of state registrar
- § 24-14-6 NMSA 1978Repealed
- § 24-14-7 NMSA 1978Appointment and removal of local registrars
- § 24-14-8 NMSA 1978Duties of local registrar
- § 24-14-9 NMSA 197824-14-9 to 24-14-11. Repealed
Enacted in other states
All New Mexico named statutes →
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