The following news release was issued today, April 1.
ST. PAUL — Advocates of protecting human life at every stage advanced the ban on funding of human cloning at the state Legislature this week. The human cloning funding ban, which would prevent state funding for the manufacture and destruction of cloned human beings, was included in both the House and Senate Higher Education appropriations omnibus bills, H.F. 1101 and S.F. 924. Rep. King Banaian, R-St. Cloud, authored an amendment adding the funding ban to the House Higher Education finance omnibus bill, which was approved. Both omnibus bills were passed on Tuesday.
In both cases, opponents of the legislation proposed amendments to weaken the measure or render its language meaningless. These amendments were defeated in the House and Senate.
The funding ban has precedent in state law. The 2009 Legislature passed a session law ban on funding of human cloning, which was signed by Gov. Pawlenty. This provision would need to be reauthorized every two years without a permanent ban on funding of human cloning.
Also this week, the Senate included language to ban human cloning in its Health and Human Services omnibus bill, S.F. 760, on Wednesday. An amendment to remove the protective language was defeated. The language to ban human cloning includes a misdemeanor penalty for violation of the ban.
The House and Senate will now work to resolve the differences between their omnibus bills. The final bills will then need approval by the full House and Senate before being sent to Gov. Dayton.
MCCL is Minnesota's oldest and largest pro-life organization with more than 70,000 member families and 240 chapters across the state. For more information about MCCL, visit www.mccl.org.
