INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers moved one step closer to making fertility fraud illegal, decades after one doctor used his sperm to father more than 40 children.
In 2016, Indianapolis fertility doctor Donald Cline admitted to using his own sperm in the 1970s and 1980s to inseminate his patients.
There is no law against what Cline did, but members of the Indiana House Judiciary Committee moved one step closer to writing one into code.
Last week, Liz White, one of Cline’s former patients, testified about the pain and frustration Cline caused.
“I never consented,” White said. “Had he given me the choice it was his, I never would've consented. … I didn't have that choice. He never told me the truth."
The bill the Indiana House committee approved would make what Cline did a Level 6 Felony. It would also allow victims to sue their fertility doctors for this type of fraud.
The committee made a small change to the bill before approving it, 12-0. It will now head to the full House.
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