§ 15-8-16 - Civil action.
SECTION 15-8-16
§ 15-8-16 Civil action. – (a) An action under this chapter is a civil action governed by the rules ofcivil procedure. The mother of the child and the alleged father are competentto testify and may be compelled to testify.
(b) Upon refusal of any witness, including a party, totestify under oath or produce evidence, the court may order him or her totestify under oath and produce evidence concerning all relevant facts. If therefusal is upon the ground that this, his or her testimony or evidence, mighttend to incriminate him or her, the court may grant him or her immunity fromall criminal liability on account of the testimony or evidence that he or sheis required to produce. An order granting immunity bars prosecution of thewitness for any offenses shown in whole or in part by testimony or evidencethat he or she is required to produce, except for perjury committed in his orher testimony. The refusal of a witness, who has been granted immunity, to obeyan order to testify or produce evidence is a civil contempt of court.
(c) Testimony of a physician concerning the medicalcircumstances of the pregnancy and the condition and characteristics of thechild upon birth is not privileged.
(d) Testimony relating to sexual access to the mother by anunidentified man at any time or by an identified man at a time other than theprobable time of conception of the child is inadmissible in evidence, unlessoffered by the mother.
(e) In an action against an alleged father, evidence offeredby him with respect to a man who is not subject to the jurisdiction of thecourt concerning his sexual intercourse with the mother at or about theprobable time of conception of the child is admissible in evidence only if hehas undergone and made available to the court blood or tissue typing tests, theresults of which do not exclude the possibility of his paternity of the child.A man who is identified and is subject to the jurisdiction of the court shallbe made a defendant in the action.