PA Could Eliminate Listing A Person's Sex On Birth Certificates

HARRISBURG, PA — Four Democratic state senators are introducing legislation that they content would protect individual privacy and prevent discrimination by removing sex designations on Pennsylvania birth certificates.

Timothy Kearney and Amanda Cappelletti, both of Delaware County; Katie Muth of Berks County and Lindsey Williams of Allegheny County, asserted in a recent memo to their colleagues that non-binary individuals face discrimination from not having gender-affirming documentation.

"While removing sex from birth certificates will not fix the discrimination these individuals face it can, at least, remove one obstacle they face," the quartet stated.

They noted that while the state has addressed some of the difficulties of getting state issued IDs with gender-neutral designations by simplifying the process on driver’s licenses, there are "still tremendous hurdles when it comes to the overall process for individuals to change their name and change their sex, particularly on birth certificates."

The American Medical Association has been advocating for the removal of sex as a legal designation on the public portion of the birth certificate. Under the policy, information on an individual’s sex designation at birth would still be collected and submitted through the U.S. Standard Certificate of Live Birth form for medical, public health, and statistical use only.

The new policy aligns with existing AMA policy recognizing that every individual has the right to determine their gender identity and sex designation on government documents.

“Designating sex on birth certificates as male or female, and making that information available on the public portion, perpetuates a view that sex designation is permanent and fails to recognize the medical spectrum of gender identity," AMA board chair Dr. Sandra Adamson Fryhofer said on the AMA website.

"This type of categorization system also risks stifling an individual’s self-expression and self-identification and contributes to marginalization and minoritization."