Bill Filed to Prohibit Fraudulent Fertility Treatment
On Thursday Sen. Charles Beckham (R – McNeil) and Rep. Jimmy Gazaway (R – Paragould) filed S.B. 474.
This good bill prohibits fraud and abuse in fertility treatments.
Right now Arkansas law contains very few provisions to prevent someone from conducting fertility treatments that are fraudulent or abusive.
S.B. 474 changes that by making it a crime for a person or healthcare provider to use unauthorized human reproductive material in a fertility treatment. This prevents reproductive material from another person from being used without appropriate consent.
The bill also makes it a crime for individuals who perform fertility treatments to misrepresent the identity of the person who has donated the reproductive material for the treatment or to misrepresent the quality of the material or the treatment procedure.
This helps address situations in which a person or company who does fertility treatments lies about the donor or secretly uses material or treatment procedures that probably will not work.
S.B. 474 also makes it possible for a person who engages in fraudulent fertility treatments to be sued.
This bill will make much-needed improvements to Arkansas’ laws governing fertility treatments and protect Arkansans from fraudulent or abusive conduct.