Minnesota Governor Pawlenty Signs Bill to Ban Taxpayer Funding of Human Cloning
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 18, 2009
St. Paul, MN (LifeNews.com) — With the University of Minnesota reportedly pursuing human cloning for research purposes, Gov. Tim Pawlenty this weekend signed a bill that would ban taxpayer funding of the grisly practice. Signing the bill is the Minnesota governor’s latest move that has earned him respect with the pro-life community.
In recent years, advocates of embryonic stem cell research have ingenuously moved towards promoting and performing human cloning for dubious research purposes.
Laboratories around the world are in competition to be the first to successfully clone a human being and the University of Minnesota’s Stem Cell Institute is believed to be pursuing human cloning as well.
On Saturday, Pawlenty signed the taxpayer funding ban and the state pro-life group Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life told LifeNews.com it appreciates his move.
“MCCL applauds Governor Pawlenty and the state legislature for establishing a clear ethical boundary which upholds the integrity of the human embryo and opposes the commodification of the human body,” MCCL director Scott Fischbach said.
“The majority of Americans and Minnesotans oppose human cloning and do not want to be forced to pay for it," he continued.
The language to ban funding of human cloning had been successfully amended into the higher education funding bill, S.F. 2083, in both the House and Senate.
The provision proved to be contentious in conference committee negotiations, but ultimately was kept in the final version of the bill.
“Human life must be treated with dignity, not as mere raw material for experimentation,” Fischbach said. “MCCL applauds this move by Governor Pawlenty and legislators toward protecting life from replication, manipulation and destruction.”
Human cloning is a technique that combines an enucleated egg (nucleus removed) and the nucleus of a somatic cell to make a human being in the embryonic stage of development. Somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, is the scientific term for cloning and SCNT can be used for supposedly therapeutic or reproductive purposes, but the initial stage that combines an enucleated egg and a somatic cell’s nucleus is the same.
MCCL worries that human cloning "promises a means of large-scale production of human embryos for experiments, conjuring up gruesome images of embryo farming to manufacture and supply laboratories with raw human material."
ACTION: Thank Governor Pawlenty by going to https://www.governor.state.mn.us
Related web sites:
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life – https://www.mccl.org
Minnesota Governor – https://www.governor.state.mn.us
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