§ 15-8-16. Civil action. (a) An action under this chapter is a civil action governed by the rules of civil procedure. The mother of the child and the alleged father are competent to testify and may be compelled to testify.

(b) Upon refusal of any witness, including a party, to testify under oath or produce evidence, the court may order him or her to testify under oath and produce evidence concerning all relevant facts. If the refusal is upon the ground that this, his or her testimony or evidence, might tend to incriminate him or her, the court may grant him or her immunity from all criminal liability on account of the testimony or evidence that he or she is required to produce. An order granting immunity bars prosecution of the witness for any offenses shown in whole or in part by testimony or evidence that he or she is required to produce, except for perjury committed in his or her testimony. The refusal of a witness, who has been granted immunity, to obey an order to testify or produce evidence is a civil contempt of court.

(c) Testimony of a physician concerning the medical circumstances of the pregnancy and the condition and characteristics of the child upon birth is not privileged.

(d) Testimony relating to sexual access to the mother by an unidentified man at any time or by an identified man at a time other than the probable time of conception of the child is inadmissible in evidence, unless offered by the mother.

(e) In an action against an alleged father, evidence offered by him with respect to a man who is not subject to the jurisdiction of the court concerning his sexual intercourse with the mother at or about the probable time of conception of the child is admissible in evidence only if he has undergone and made available to the court blood or tissue typing tests, the results 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 shall be made a defendant in the action.

History of Section. (P.L. 1979, ch. 185, § 2; P.L. 2004, ch. 6, § 31.)