Title 22

(a) An advance directive for health care may be revoked at any time by the declarant by any of the following methods: (1) By being obliterated, burnt, torn, or otherwise destroyed or defaced in a manner indicating intention to cancel; (2) By a written revocation of the advance di…

An individual designated to make decisions regarding the providing, withholding, or withdrawing of life-sustaining treatment or artificially provided nutrition and hydration for another pursuant to Section 22-8A-4(b) shall make those decisions according to the specific instructio…

(a) A competent adult may make decisions regarding life-sustaining treatment and artificially provided nutrition and hydration so long as that individual is able to do so. The desires of an individual shall at all times supersede the effect of an advance directive for health care…

(a) A health care provider who refuses to comply with a living will or the directions of a duly designated proxy or a duly appointed surrogate or who refuses to honor a portable physician DNAR order executed in compliance with the directives of this chapter and using the form des…

(a) The withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment or artificially provided nutrition and hydration from a patient in accordance with the provisions of this chapter shall not, for any purpose, constitute a suicide and shall not constitute assisting suicide. (b) The ma…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Assisted Suicide Ban Act. (Act 2017-231, §1.)

The Legislature finds all of the following: (1) In almost every state, it is a crime to assist a suicide. These bans are long-standing expressions of the commitment of the states to protect and preserve all human life. (2) The state has an interest in protecting vulnerable groups…

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings: (1) AID IN DYING. The act of a person providing the means or manner for another person to be able to commit suicide, with actual knowledge that the person deliberately intends on committing suicide by…

(a) Any person who deliberately assists another person to commit suicide or provides aid in dying is guilty of a Class C felony. (b) Any physician or health care provider who prescribes any drug, compound, or substance to a patient deliberately to aid in dying or assists or perfo…

(a) Any person, physician, or health care provider who deliberately violates this chapter by aiding in dying shall be liable for damages. (b) If any person deliberately aids in dying in violation of this chapter that results in death, the personal representative or administrator …

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit a physician or health care provider from doing any of the following: (1) Participating in the execution of a person sentenced by a court to death by any means recognized by Alabama law. (2) Following a patient’s wishes or hea…

It is the intent of the Legislature that the Attorney General exhaust the internal resources and personnel of the office prior to the retention of any outside counsel to assist in the defense of any constitutional challenge to this chapter. (Act 2017-231, §7.)

For the purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: (1) DEAD BODY. A human body or parts of the human body from the condition of which it reasonably may be concluded that death occurred. (2) FETAL…

(a) If a delayed certificate of birth is rejected under Section 22-9A-9, a petition signed and sworn to by the petitioner may be filed with a circuit court of any county in this state in which he or she resides or was born, for an order establishing a birth record. (b) The petiti…

(a) For each adoption decreed by a court of competent jurisdiction in this state, the court shall require the preparation of a report of adoption on a form prescribed and furnished by the State Registrar. The report shall indicate those facts necessary to locate and identify the …

(a) A child who has automatically acquired United States citizenship following a foreign adoption and who possesses a Certificate of Citizenship in accordance with the Child Citizenship Act, CAA, P.L. 106-395, shall be exempt from the provisions of Section 22-9A-11, which require…

(a) The State Registrar shall establish a new certificate of birth for a person born in this state upon receipt of any of the following: (1) A report of adoption as provided in Section 22-9A-11 or a report of adoption prepared and filed in accordance with the laws of another stat…

(a) A report of fetal death shall be filed with the Office of Vital Statistics, or as otherwise directed by the State Registrar, within five days after the occurrence is known if the fetus has advanced to, or beyond, the twentieth week of uterogestation. (1) When a fetal death oc…

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following words shall have the following meanings: (1) CERTIFICATE OF BIRTH RESULTING IN STILLBIRTH. A certificate issued to record and memorialize the birth of a stillborn child. (2) STILLBIRTH or STILLBORN. An unintended, intrauterine f…

(a)(1) Following a nonviable birth occurring before 20 weeks of gestation, a report of fetal death shall be electronically filed with the Office of Vital Statistics within five days after the fetal death is known, if a report is requested by the parent or parents. (2) A report of…

(a) A certificate of death for each death which occurs in this state shall be filed with the Office of Vital Statistics, or as otherwise directed by the State Registrar, within five days of the death and shall be registered if it has been completed and filed in accordance with th…

(a) When a death occurring in this state has not been registered within the time period prescribed by subsection (a) of Section 22-9A-14, a certificate of death may be registered on a regular certificate of death as follows: (1) If the attending physician, county medical examiner…

(a) The funeral director or person acting as the funeral director who first assumes custody of a dead body shall, prior to final disposition of the body, or prior to removal of the dead body from the state, obtain authorization for final disposition of the body or removal of the …

(a) Two persons desiring to unite in marriage may do so by submitting the affidavits, forms, and data specified in Section 30-1-5 and Section 30-1-9.1 for recording with the office of the judge of probate. The recording of the affidavits, forms, and data establishes legal recogni…

(a) A record of each divorce or annulment granted by any court in this state shall be filed by the clerk, register, or clerk and register of each court with the Office of Vital Statistics and shall be registered if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this section. …

(a) A certificate registered under this chapter may be amended only in accordance with this chapter and rules adopted by the board to protect the integrity and accuracy of vital records. (b) A certificate that is amended under this section shall be marked “AMENDED” except as othe…

The State Board of Health shall have charge of an Office of Vital Statistics. The Office of Vital Statistics shall install, maintain, and operate the only system of vital statistics and the only system of health statistics throughout this state. The Office of Vital Statistics sha…

The State Registrar, to preserve vital records, may prepare typewritten, photographic, microfilm, digital, electronic, or other reproductions of certificates or reports in the Office of Vital Statistics. The reproductions, when certified by the State Registrar, shall be accepted …

(a) To protect the integrity of vital records, to insure their proper use, and to insure the efficient and proper administration of the system of vital statistics, it shall be unlawful for any person to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in vital records, …

(a) In accordance with Section 22-9A-21 and any rules adopted pursuant to that section: (1) The State Registrar and other custodians of vital records authorized by the State Registrar to issue certified copies shall upon receipt of an application issue a certified copy of vital r…

(a) Fees to be paid to the Office of Vital Statistics are as follows: (1) The fee for making any search of the records and reporting the findings or for making one certified copy of the record if found shall be fifteen dollars ($15). If the search is made in a local registration …

(a)(1) Every person in charge of an institution shall keep a record of personal data concerning each person admitted or confined to the institution. This record shall include information as required for the certificates of birth and death and the reports of fetal death required b…

Each local and deputy registrar is charged with the strict and thorough enforcement of the provisions of this chapter in his or her registration district, under the supervision and direction of the State Registrar. He or she shall make an immediate report to the State Registrar o…

(a) Any person who does any of the following shall be guilty of a Class C felony: (1) Willfully and knowingly makes any false statement in a certificate, record, or report required by this chapter or rules of the board, or in an application for an amendment to a certificate, reco…

All rules, forms, and procedures promulgated by the board prior to May 21, 1992 shall continue in force and effect until the forms, rules, or procedures are repealed, amended, replaced, or rescinded by action of the board through the Alabama Administrative Procedure Act, Sections…

The provisions of this chapter also apply to all certificates of birth, death, marriage, divorce, or annulment, and reports of fetal death and induced termination of pregnancy previously received by the Office of Vital Statistics and in the custody of the State Registrar or any o…

(a) The board shall appoint the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, hereinafter referred to as “State Registrar,” in accordance with procedures and practices of the State Personnel Board. (b) The State Registrar shall perform each of the following functions: (1) Administer and e…

The board may designate vital records registration districts within the state. The board may from time to time, as conditions justify, consolidate or subdivide the districts to facilitate registration. Each county in the state shall be a registration district unless and until cha…

(a) In each registration district, as defined in Section 22-9A-4 or as designated by the board, a local registrar and deputy registrars shall be appointed by the State Registrar upon the recommendation of the county health officer or his or her designee. All local registrars and …

(a)(1) The board shall determine, by rule, the items or information to be contained on certificates of birth, death, marriage, and divorce and on reports of fetal death and induced termination of pregnancy. Each certificate, report, and other document required by this chapter sha…

(a) A certificate of birth for each live birth that occurs in this state shall be filed with the Office of Vital Statistics, or as otherwise directed by the State Registrar, within five days after the birth and shall be registered if it has been completed and filed in accordance …

(a) Any school district or public school, and any state agency, department, bureau, or commission, or political subdivision that collects vital statistics related to sex as male or female for the purpose of complying with anti-discrimination laws or for the purpose of gathering a…

(a) Whoever assumes the custody of a live-born infant of unknown parentage shall report on a form and in a manner prescribed by the State Registrar within five days to the Office of Vital Statistics all of the following information: (1) The date and place of finding. (2) Sex, rac…

Any person born in the state whose birth has not been filed may have his or her birth registered by the State Registrar after complying with the requirements set forth below: (1) Certificates of birth filed after the time specified in Section 22-9A-7 but within one year from the …

The following things, conditions and acts, among others, are hereby declared to be public nuisances per se, menacing public health and unlawful: (1) Animals (including fish, birds, fowls and insects), other than human beings, infected with or acting as, or likely to act as, conve…

Any such nuisance shall be abated by the county board of health and the county health officer in any of the ways provided in this chapter that may be appropriate or in any other lawful manner including abatement by a complaint. And an effort to abate by one method shall not precl…