States ban Cloning, Hybrids; Limit egg harvesting

As advances continue in non-embryonic stem cell research, Bioethics Defense Fund is lending its unique legal expertise to state laws that protect human dignity in science.

BDF president Nikolas T. Nikas consulted on key language and gave expert legal testimony before three committees in the Arizona legislature at the request of the committee chair on AZ S.B. 1307. After overcoming significant opposition from in vitro fertility doctors, the following two bills were sent to the Arizona governor’s desk: 
 
1.       AZ S.B. 1307

• Bans human cloning;
• Bans human embryonic stem cell research; and
•  Bans human animal hybrids.

  Read an AZCapitolTimes.com article quoting BDF president Nikolas T. Nikas on this bill. 

2.       AZ S.B. 1306

• Bans the purchase or offer to purchase a human egg for purposes of cloning; and
• Requires Informed Consent for egg donors for fertility clinics.
   

We also congratulate the outstanding efforts of Oklahoma Representative Rebecca Hamilton who led efforts to enact a human-animal hybrid ban co-drafted by BDF, OK H.B. 3078.

Representative Hamilton also made significant headway in BDF-drafted legislation that bans the exploitive practice of cash-induced human egg harvesting that targets young healthy women on college campuses, OK H.B. 3077. Offering $5,000 to $8,000 for the weeks long procedures, fertility doctors inject young women with high doses of hormones so that their ovaries produce 10-20 eggs per cycle, instead of one. This practice, along with the surgical removal of the ova carries significant health risks, and treats women as commodities.

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