SALT LAKE CITY -- A state lawmaker said Wednesday he wants to rewrite a Utah statute to close a loophole in the law that allows incest through artificial insemination.

Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, said his goal is to block inappropriate family relations that produce children with serious birth defects.

His draft bill presented Wednesday would make it illegal for adult relatives to provide each other with seminal fluids or human eggs for use in artificial insemination.

Stowell also wants to eliminate as a possible criminal defense the claim that no sexual intercourse occurred. Current incest laws require proof of sexual intercourse and address offenses between adults and children under 18.

The law enforcement and criminal justice interim committee voted unanimously to forward the bill for consideration during the legislative session that starts in January.

"We had a case of incest in Iron County. In the course of prosecuting, [what] the defense offered was that this incest was done by artificial insemination which is not covered in the law," Stowell said. "This is an attempt to correct that problem."

Stowell said research of incest laws nationwide shows Utah would be the first state to address incest through artificial insemination.

Allegations of incest were brought to Iron County authorities last year by Elend LeBaron and two of his brothers, who feared their father, Ross W. Lebaron, Jr., was engaged in an incestuous relationship that had produced at least four children.

DNA testing on one of the children -- the samples were collected in secret and the tests paid for by the three brothers -- indicated a high probability that incest had occurred.

The tests "transformed our suspicion into a very painful reality," an emotional Elend LeBaron, of Delta, told the committee. "My father is in fact having children with one of my sisters."

A confrontation with their father and siblings over the test results was met with strong resistance that stems from deeply held religious beliefs, Elend LeBaron said.

"They argued that they believe God wants them to do this sort of thing," Elend LeBaron said. "They scarcely listened to any of the arguments."

One sister's "arrogant" retort was that "artificial insemination was not illegal," Elend LeBaron said.

The LeBarons are descendants of the violent Utah polygamist Ervil LeBaron who started his own church and died in prison while serving time for ordering the 1977 murder of a rival sect leader.

Ross W. Lebaron Jr., who is Ervil LeBaron's nephew, did not immediately return telephone calls from The Associated Press Wednesday.

Elend LeBaron implored lawmakers to help close the loophole in the law that allowed his father -- and possibly men in some Utah-based polygamist groups -- to commit incest without fear of being prosecuted. The brothers are also working on similar legislation in Arizona and Nevada.

"I believe in religious freedom and protecting religious freedom, but incest of this nature crosses a very important line in as much as it is a crime against the unborn," Elend LeBaron said. "Please pass this bill now. Not next year. Not the year after. If we wait a year or two to finally sew this up, for some it might be too late."

Iron County Deputy Attorney Troy Little said the proposed change to the incest law represents "good public policy." Prosecutors were unable to find a way around the "insemination defense" to bring criminal charges in the LeBaron case. "The main issue here is that when we do have offspring, we want to protect that victim and we want to hold that [perpetrator] accountable," Little said.

Consanguinity research shows that incest among first-degree relatives has a "highly deleterious" effect on offspring, said John M. Optiz, a University of Utah professor of pediatric genetics.

Studies show children of incest have higher rates of mortality, birth defects and mental retardation, he said.

Stowell said the bill would not apply in cases of surrogacy -- if the surrogate female is not related to the male providing the sperm.

It also would increase the statute of limitations for prosecuting incest from four to seven years.

Incest is a third-degree felony punishable by a prison term of up to five years.