2023 House Bill 4179

Criminal procedure: sentencing guidelines; sentencing guidelines for false representation regarding assisted reproduction; provide for.

A bill to amend 1927 PA 175, entitled “The code of criminal procedure,” by amending section 16l of chapter XVII (MCL 777.16l), as amended by 2016 PA 150.

House Fiscal Agency Analysis

The fairly recent use of home DNA test kits to explore one’s ancestry and locate long-lost relations has facilitated a troubling discovery—the practice by some fertility doctors to use their own sperm in assisted reproduction procedures with their patients and the failure of some donors to disclose relevant or truthful information. The bills would amend different acts to address fraud in reproductive assistance procedures. House Bill 4178 would prohibit providing false or misleading information related to an assisted reproduction procedure and prohibit a health professional from using an embryo, sperm, or egg in such a procedure that is not the one the patient consented to. House Bills 4179, 4180, 4181, and 4182 would make related changes concerning, respectively, sentencing guidelines, health professional sanctions, civil liability, and statutes of limitations.