144.43 Vital records closed to inspection — exceptions.
1. To protect the integrity of vital statistics records, to ensure their proper use, and to ensure the efficient and proper administration of the vital statistics system kept by the state registrar, access to vital statistics records kept by the state registrar shall be limited to the state registrar and the state registrar’s employees, and then only for administrative purposes.
2. It shall be unlawful for the state registrar to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in vital statistics records, or to copy or permit to be copied all or part of any such record except as authorized by rule.
3. a. The following vital statistics records in the custody of a county registrar may be inspected and copied as of right under chapter 22:
(1) A record of birth.
(2) A record of marriage.
(3) A record of divorce, dissolution of marriage, or annulment of marriage.
(4) A record of death if that death was not a fetal death.
b. The following vital statistics records in the custody of the state archivist may be inspected and copied as of right under chapter 22:
(1) A record of birth that is at least seventy-five years old.
(2) A record of marriage that is at least seventy-five years old.
(3) A record of divorce, dissolution of marriage, or annulment of marriage that is at least seventy-five years old.
(4) A record of death or fetal death, either of which is at least fifty years old.
4. A public record shall not be withheld from the public because it is combined with data processing software. The state registrar shall not implement any electronic data processing system for the storage, manipulation, or retrieval of vital records that would impair a county registrar’s ability to permit the examination of a public record and the copying of a public record, as established by rule. If it is necessary to separate a public record from data processing software in order to permit the examination of the public record, the county registrar shall periodically generate a written log available for public inspection which contains the public record.
[C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, §144.45; C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, S81, §144.43; 81 Acts, ch 64, §10; 82 Acts, ch 1100, §2]
88 Acts, ch 1158, §43; 90 Acts, ch 1025, §1; 94 Acts, ch 1171, §5; 97 Acts, ch 159, §21; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §194; 2015 Acts, ch 30, §59; 2018 Acts, ch 1125, §2
Referred to in §144.18, 233.2
Structure Iowa Code
Chapter 144 - VITAL STATISTICS
Section 144.2 - Division of records and statistics.
Section 144.3 - Rules adopted.
Section 144.5 - Duties of registrar.
Section 144.9 - County recorder as registrar.
Section 144.11 - Public access to records.
Section 144.12 - Forms uniform.
Section 144.12A - Declaration of paternity registry.
Section 144.13 - Birth certificates.
Section 144.13A - Fees — use of funds — electronic birth certificate system.
Section 144.13B - Waiver of fees — military service.
Section 144.15 - Delayed registrations of birth.
Section 144.16 - Delayed registration of death or marriage.
Section 144.17 - Petition to establish certificate.
Section 144.18 - Court hearing.
Section 144.19 - Adoption certificate.
Section 144.21 - Amended record.
Section 144.22 - Clerk to report to state registrar.
Section 144.23 - State registrar to issue new certificate.
Section 144.24 - Substituting new for original birth certificates — inspection.
Section 144.25 - No previous certificate — procedure.
Section 144.25A - Certificate of birth — foreign and international adoptions.
Section 144.26 - Death certificate.
Section 144.28 - Medical certification.
Section 144.29 - Fetal deaths.
Section 144.29A - Termination of pregnancy reporting — legislative intent.
Section 144.30 - Funeral director’s duty — fetal death certificate.
Section 144.31 - Medical certification — fetal death.
Section 144.31A - Certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth.
Section 144.32 - Burial transit permit.
Section 144.33 - Bodies brought into state.
Section 144.34 - Disinterment — permit.
Section 144.35 - Extensions of time by rules.
Section 144.36 - Marriage certificate filed — prohibited information.
Section 144.37 - Dissolution and annulment records.
Section 144.38 - Amendment of official record.
Section 144.39 - Change of name.
Section 144.40 - Paternity of children — birth certificates.
Section 144.41 - Amending local records.
Section 144.42 - Reproduction of original records.
Section 144.43 - Vital records closed to inspection — exceptions.
Section 144.43A - Mutual consent voluntary adoption registry.
Section 144.44 - Permits for research.
Section 144.45 - Certified copies.
Section 144.45A - Commemorative birth and marriage certificates.
Section 144.46A - Vital records fund.
Section 144.47 - Persons confined in institutions.
Section 144.48 - Institutions — dead persons.
Section 144.49 - Additional record by funeral director.
Section 144.50 - Length of time records to be kept.
Section 144.51 - Information by others furnished on demand.
Section 144.52 - Unlawful acts — punishment.
Section 144.53 - Other acts — simple misdemeanors.
Section 144.54 - Report to county attorney.
Section 144.55 - Attorney general to assist in enforcement.
Section 144.57 - Public safety officer death — required notice — autopsy.