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Powell's Bill Combating Fertility Fraud Passes Committee

April 7, 2022
Jena Powell News

House Bill 64, sponsored by State Representative Jena Powell (R-Arcanum), was unanimously voted out of the House Criminal Justice Committee this week.  

House Bill 64 makes fraudulent assisted reproduction a crime. If a licensed health care professional knowingly uses human reproductive material from a donor that the recipient of the procedure has not consented to, that constitutes a third degree felony. This legislation also allows for the woman on whom the procedure was performed, her spouse, or the child born as result of the procedure to bring a civil action against the fertility doctor.

“We all can agree that it is wrong for a fertility doctor to knowingly impregnate a patient with his own sperm instead of that of the patient’s requested sperm donor,” Powell said. “This bill simply joins other states in making fertility fraud a crime and thus allowing legal recourse for those families affected by it.”

House Bill 64 passed unanimously out of the House Criminal Justice Committee, and now advances for further consideration by the Ohio House.