Do you have a civil right to your birth certificate?

[SheilaT]

8. It's hard to imagine someone needing a new copy every year,

let alone every six months.

Maybe like your social security card, there should be some realistic lifetime limit as to how many free copies you can get.

Which reminds me, I have no idea where the birth certificate I first obtained in about 1967 has gone to. I needed it back then because I went to work for Ma Bell, and they required proof of citizenship. That document got me my first passport, and I know that the last time I set eyes on it, probably a decade or more ago, it was pretty tattered. I should send off for a new one.