A woman who always had known she was conceived with the use of a sperm donor was stunned when more accessible DNA testing and an ancestry website helped her discover she is one of more than 90 half-siblings. And that number is only those who took DNA tests and shared the information online. What was probably even more shocking was the discovery that it was the fertility doctor her parents trusted who had impregnated her mother with his own sperm.

After recovering from those two surprises, it must have been quite a blow for Jacoba Ballard to learn that what Dr. Donald Cline did is not explicitly a crime in most states.

Her case is not unique, according to a report by the Columbus Dispatch.

A Cincinnati fertility doctor also is suspected of having fraudulently fathered at least seven children.

“The fact that a medical professional would take advantage of a vulnerable family in this way is shocking,” Carrie Lauterbach, of Oakwood, told the Dispatch.

Shocking, disgusting, certainly criminal, right? Well, not yet, in the Buckeye State. But lawmakers are working on it. A criminal justice bill passed by the state Senate last week does include a ban on reproduction health care providers using their own genetic material with their patients without consent. The House should waste no time in passing it as well.

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