Private Incest

Utah’s incest law applies only to sexual intercourse which created loopholes as shown in a previous incest investigation in Iron County. It was dropped after the family claimed a child born in an incestuous relationship was conceived via artificial insemination.

Lawmakers are now working hard to change the incest laws. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would allow prosecutors to use genetic evidence to build cases where claims are made that no sexual intercourse took place.

SB11, sponsored by Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, also extends the reporting period for incest from four to seven years. Prosecutors are allowed to use DNA evidence in incest cases after a girl is impregnated without having sex with a man.

Elend LeBaron, whose father is a member of the polygamous LeBaron clan asked Stowell to carry the legislation after learning last year there was a high probability that two sisters had conceived children with his father and another brother.

Elend LeBaron said his sisters were adults when they conceived children but were indoctrinated from a young age to consider their father a prophet of God.

“Because of the way the laws are written, there is no protection for these young girls, nothing for law enforcement to protect them from being pushed into incest,” he said.

On the other hand, Laura Fuller, a member of the polygamous Kingston family which was investigated by Utah Attorney General’s Office for incestuous uncle-niece unions, said the proposed law might fail a constitutional challenge because its definition of incest goes beyond first-degree relatives and targets religious beliefs.