North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed HB1139, defining birth-record sex as biological and fixed at birth

On April 7, 2023, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1139, an act amending sections 23-02.1-01, 23-02.1-13, and 23-02.1-15 of the North Dakota Century Code "relating to required elements of birth records." The law inserts a statutory definition of "sex" as "the biological state of being female or male, based on the individual's nonambiguous sex organs, chromosomes, and endogenous hormone profiles at birth," and provides that a birth record must designate a child as either male or female, barring an entry of "not yet determined" unless the sex cannot be determined on that biological basis. The 68th Legislative Assembly passed the measure 81-11 in the House and 42-5 in the Senate, and it was filed with the Secretary of State on April 10.

Before HB1139, North Dakota's Century Code did not require a birth record to state a child's sex, and an administrative rule (section 33-04-12-02) set out a process for amending a birth record following a sex-reassignment operation. Committee testimony supporting the bill described it as codifying a fixed, biological definition of sex into the vital-records statute. By writing an immutable, binary conception of sex at birth into law, the act entrenches a classification that transgender and intersex residents cannot alter to reflect their gender identity.

Transgender-rights trackers document the resulting posture: North Dakota no longer amends gender markers on birth certificates unless genetic testing shows an error in the sex recorded at birth. HB1139 was one of a series of measures Governor Burgum signed in 2023 that restricted the legal recognition of transgender North Dakotans.