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Senate amends statute to include assisted-reproduction cases and lengthen reporting window
Summary
Senate Bill 11 was amended to extend covered conduct to assisted-reproduction (artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization) between defined relatives and to extend certain statute-of-limitations timing from 4 to 8 years under specified reporting conditions; the amendment was adopted and the bill placed on third-reading calendar.
Senate Bill 11 was taken off the 'circle' and considered by the Utah Senate on March 3. The chamber adopted Amendment 2, which aligns the statute-of-limitations language with existing forcible-abuse provisions and extends certain reporting timeframes.
Senator Stowell, sponsor of SB 11, explained the bill updates the state's incest-related criminal statute to cover modern reproductive techniques, including artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, when those acts occur between relatives defined in the statute. Stowell said the amendment addressed concerns from Senator Hilliard and committee members about the statute-of-limitations language and that the amendment extends the limitations period from four to eight years if law enforcement is notified within four years of the offense.
Stowell cited written testimony placed on the senators' desks from geneticist Mario Capecchi concerning increased empirical risk for certain first-degree incestuous parent-child matings. The amendment passed by voice vote and the chamber recorded SB 11 as having received 27 yea votes, 0 nay votes and 2 absences; the bill was placed on the third-reading calendar.
