Senate Bill No. 402
(By Senators Rowe, White, Caldwell, Harrison and Smith)
____________
[Introduced January 30, 2003; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend article ten, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section thirty-two,
relating to crimes against public policy generally;
prohibiting participation in human and embryonic cloning; and
prescribing criminal penalties for violations of the section.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article ten, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
thirty-two, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC POLICY.
§61-10-32. Cloning; penalties.
It is unlawful for anyone to participate in any activity
including soliciting money from any person for the purpose of producing a clone of a human being or human embryo, including
claiming to have that purpose, or to assist or attempt to assist a
person in obtaining services to produce a clone of a human being or
a human embryo.
Any person who violates the provisions of this section is
guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
less than fifty thousand dollars or not more than one-hundred
thousand dollars, or imprisoned in a state correctional facility
for not less than one nor more than five years or, in the
discretion of the court, by both such fine and imprisonment.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit participation
in the cloning of human beings and embryos and to prescribe a
criminal penalty for violation of the provisions of the bill.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.