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Failed Assignments — Rethinking Sex Designations on Birth Certificates

List of authors.
  • Vadim M. Shteyler, M.D.,
  • Jessica A. Clarke, J.D.,
  • and Eli Y. Adashi, M.D.

Sex designations on birth certificates offer no clinical utility, and they can be harmful for intersex and transgender people. Moving such designations below the line of demarcation wouldn’t compromise the birth certificate’s public health function but could avoid harm.

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Funding and Disclosures

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available at NEJM.org.

This article was published on December 12, 2020, at NEJM.org.

Author Affiliations

From the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine (V.M.S.) and the Department of Medical Science (E.Y.A.), Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI; and Vanderbilt University Law School, Nashville (J.A.C.).

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