Nevada Legislature debates bill on criminalizing fertility fraud

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Debate was held in the Nevada Legislature on a bill to make healthcare providers who implant their own reproductive cells into a patient without their consent guilty of fertility fraud, a class B felony.

SB309, if passed, would mean those found guilty could face between two and 15 years in prison per charge. It would also prohibit persons from giving false information to a patient regarding assisted reproduction, making it a class C felony, the bill says.

Cases of doctors using their own sperm to inseminate mothers requesting anonymous donors have reached lawsuits in court in other states.

Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro introduced the bill and explained when asked to clarify that those who are victims of fertility fraud could still sue the physician involved.

“I believe that we have a duty to endure that we do not have a loophole where someone can come in and say well, it wasn’t expressly prohibited by Nevada law so good luck suing me, taking my license, or finding some sort of criminal action,” she said.

Several other states have passed legislation to outlaw such actions.

Saha Salahi, legislative intern with IGNITE, recalled the case of Dr. Quincy Fortier who was a Las Vegas doctor who for years committed fertility fraud by inseminating patients with his own sperm without their knowledge or consent.

He died in 2006 while facing numerous lawsuits.

“It’s unsettling to find out this human rights violation is currently legal in our state and that doctors have never been charged for participating in such a violation,” Salahi said.

Another hearing on the bill has not been set as of Monday.

Copyright 2023 KVVU. All rights reserved.