Baton Rouge, LA (LifeNews.com) -- The Louisiana Senate, on Tuesday, voted unanimously to approve legislation that bans state taxpayer funding of human cloning. The bill prohibits using any state funds on either reproductive or research-based human cloning and the Senate vote follows a 90-9 vote in the House in April.

The Senate voted 35-0 for Rep. Cameron Henry's legislation and now the House must sign off on minor changes the Senate made to it.

Once that happens, the measure will head to pro-life Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has already indicated he will sign it into law.

Dr. W. "Al" Krotoski, the president of the pro-life coalition group Hippocratic Resource, told LifeNews.com he's delighted by the vote.

"After four long years of battling pro-cloning forces to a draw in the Louisiana legislature, we will now be protected from having our taxes used to manufacture human life," he said.

He said the legislation is the product of pro-life groups such as the Bioethics Defense Fund, Louisiana Right to Life Federation, Louisiana Family Forum, and the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops working together.

To emphasize the grassroots support the measure has, Louisiana Right to Life officials turned in nearly 14,000 signatures from pro-life advocates.

Dorinda Bordlee, an attorney with the Bioethics Defense Fund, previously told LifeNews.com she also supports the bill.

"With the backing of Governor Jindal, the bill by Rep. Cameron Henry tracks the language of a 2005 Arizona law that prohibits taxpayer funding of cloning human embryos for any purpose," she said.

"Arizona's biotech community is thriving, showing that science and ethics can both be respected in public policy," she said.

“By simultaneously pushing for a separate bill to criminalize human cloning, legislators view the taxpayer funding ban bill as a less onerous burden on the scientific community, while still accomplishing the goal of focusing science on therapies that respect every human life,” Bordlee added.

Related web sites:
Louisiana Right to Life - http://www.prolifelouisiana.org
Bioethics Defense Fund - http://www.bdfund.org
Hippocratic Resource - http://www.LaDocs4Life.org