Senate Extends Ban on Human Cloning, OKs Stem Cell Research

The state Senate agreed Thursday to make permanent California’s 5-year-old prohibition on the cloning of human beings and research into “reproductive” cloning of people.

But opponents of Senate Bill 1230 by Sen. Dede Alpert (D-San Diego) complained that it failed to outlaw cloning for research into development of medications that may prevent cancer, Parkinson’s disease and other severe illnesses.

On a virtually party-line vote, Democrats prevailed over Republicans, 22 to 5, and passed the bill to the Assembly.

Only Republican Sen. Jim Battin of La Quinta broke ranks and voted with Democrats.

However, the Senate approved and sent to the Assembly another bill (SB 1272) by Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) that specifically would permit medical research using human embryonic stem cells. The party-line vote was 21 to 10, one more than the two-thirds majority required.

In 1997, California became the first state to adopt a moratorium on cloning for “reproductive purposes.”

The measure outlawed cloning cells that produced another human being or doing research with the intent of creating a second person.

The moratorium was to expire next Jan. 1. Instead, the bill would make the prohibition permanent.

The bill was silent on the issue of using stem cells from human embryos for “therapeutic” or medical research.

Republican Sen. Ray Haynes of Riverside, an opponent of abortion, said the legislation should ban all cloning research without any exceptions.

“It’s not a cloning ban at all,” Haynes said of Alpert’s plan. “The bill says some cloning is banned and some is not.... In order to do the [medical] research, you’ve got to kill a fetus.”

Haynes tried to amend an airtight prohibition of any form of cloning for any purpose, including medical research. Majority Democrats scuttled his amendment, 20 to 12.

But Battin, a coauthor of the original moratorium bill, said he mistakenly believed five years ago that “we were banning all cloning.” He said in spite of promising research into preventing and curing diseases, California may need to prohibit all cloning.