Nebraska Legislature Changes Human Cloning Bill Enough for Pro-Life Support 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 21, 2008
Lincoln, NE (LifeNews.com) — The Nebraska legislature has changed a bill that prohibits state funds for human cloning enough that now a statewide pro-life group says it can support the measure. A legislative panel had previously approved a version of the measure that was billed as a compromise, but that Nebraska Right to Life indicated had problems.
Yesterday, the Judiciary Committee approved a new version of LB 606 that would prohibit reproductive human cloning and ban the use of public funds to create human embryos for the purpose of destroying them for research.
Julie Schmit-Albin, executive director of Nebraska Right to Life, told the Associated Press that the changes satisfy her group’s concerns.
"While bioethics is not an area that invites compromise, we acknowledge that we gain enough with LB606 to merit supporting it," she said. "This is one of those times where we can gain something or achieve nothing, and we chose the former."
She said her group opposed original wording that would have allowed scientists to clone and kill human embryos for research purposes.
"We vigorously opposed this ‘clone and kill’ language as it could have emboldened private-sector cloning labs to come into Nebraska, and we are thankful it was removed," Schmit-Albin said.
The bill is not a complete human cloning ban but it essentially prohibits all forms of human cloning done with taxpayer funds.
NRTL originally opposed the bill because it would have banned human cloning for reproductive purposes but allowed it for research.
Related web sites:
Nebraska Right to Life- https://www.nebraskartl.org
