Senate Bill No. 25
(By Senator Rowe, Weeks, Caldwell and Smith)
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[Introduced January 14, 2004; referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Resources; and then to the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-10-32, 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 the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-10-32,
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, both fined and
imprisoned.
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.