The General Assembly today approved legislation that would criminalize unscrupulous behavior in reproductive care by establishing the crime of fertility fraud. Bill A5059, sponsored by Assemblywoman Carol Murphy, seeks to address a significant gap in reproductive health care law.
“Patients, and the families of patients, undergoing fertility treatment place an extraordinary amount of trust in the professionals guiding them through one of life’s most important moments,” said Assemblywoman Murphy (D-Burlington). “The conduct addressed in this bill is not a mistake or an oversight; it is a deliberate betrayal of trust with consequences that can follow patients and their families for the rest of their lives. When informed consent is intentionally disregarded, the harm extends far beyond the procedure itself and individuals who do so should be held accountable.”
Fertility fraud generally refers to instances in which medical professionals or reproductive service providers deceive a patient about the genetic makeup, donor characteristics, or nature of fertility procedures. Most often, instances of fertility fraud have occurred when doctors have substituted their own sperm for the patient’s chosen donor using artificial insemination.
One of the most well-known cases involved a former Indianapolis fertility specialist who secretly inseminated numerous patients with his own sperm without their consent. Decades later through DNA testing, it was discovered that he was the biological father to over 94 of his previous patients’ children.
Under the bill, it would be illegal for health care practitioners to knowingly use their own reproductive material or other unauthorized reproductive material to impregnate an individual without that person’s informed, written consent during assisted reproduction procedures. The bill would classify fertility fraud as a third-degree crime. Additionally, offenders would face having their health care license permanently revoked.