" Republican legislative leaders are in hot water with Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life after agreeing to drop several abortion and human cloning bans.

" The social policies were attached to a Republican budget compromise that Gov. Mark Dayton accepted Thursday. As a condition of his counter-proposal, the governor demanded that the bans be dropped. The leader of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life calls the budget compromise devastating. "

" It was a sudden end to a budget fight that has left the state bereft of some government services for two weeks. Earlier Thursday, Dayton had made a surprise conciliatory offer to Republicans during a public forum at the University of Minnesota. "I've concluded that the state government shutdown would be too destructive to too many Minnesotans," he told the crowd. It was, in fact, the same one Republicans had offered on June 30, the night before the longest shutdown in the state began. But in throwing the Republicans' own fiscal plan back at them, Dayton also demanded that the GOP drop several social-policy demands, such as restrictions on abortions, embryonic-stem-cell research and stricter voter-ID laws. He also demanded they jettison a proposal that would cut state-agency employment rolls by 15% and added a $500 million bonding proposal to borrow money for construction projects. "

" More than 50 people gathered in a conference room at the State Office Building in St. Paul to lay out arguments against the bill. The legislation would make it a felony to attempt, perform or aid in cloning by combining embryonic eggs that have the nucleus removed with other human cells. "

" Donning buttons that read "Science IS Pro-Life" at a state Capitol news conference organized by the University of Minnesota, doctors and parents of children with incurable diseases sought to frame the research, which anti-abortion groups decry as immoral, as a moral imperative. "

" Trisha Knuth of Darboy is scheduled to testify in Minnesota this Thursday on the importance of stem cell research.

" Trish is the mother of Charlie Knuth, the little boy who had to undergo a stem cell transplant at the University of Minnesota in order to treat a rare and painful skin disorder.

" Charlie's story inspired lawmakers in Minnesota and have asked Trisha to share her story to a legislative committee. "

" Both measures include language intended to prohibit the use of state funds for human cloning.

" Gov. Mark Dayton has said cloning and other policy issues should be debated separately from appropriations bills. "

" Some university officials say the bill could halt cutting-edge research, but they add that UMN has not, and will not, attempt to clone a human being.

" BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota CEO Dale Wahlstrom tells the Star Tribune that the bill could drive biobusiness out of Minnesota and discourage companies from locating in the state. "

" "I'm not going to go in there and give my view on stem cell research and embryonic stem cell. That's not my point. What I'm going to do is go in there and I'm going to tell them Charlie's story and Charlie's suffering and what he's endured, and I'm going to tell him how he is now and the stem cell research that has taken place already has made it such an amazing difference in Charlie's life as he is a visual of what stem cell research can do." "

" The plan, which passed over strenuous objections of Democrats, faces an almost certain veto from Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat. Dayton's health and human service commissioners have raised a host of objections, not the least of which is a belief the Republican plan would be deemed illegal by federal Medicaid officials. "

" The bill would also: Criminalize human-cloning research, a provision that has alarmed some scientists at the University of Minnesota. "

" Unlike its counterpart in the House, the Senate plan takes on a number of hot-button issues. For example, it would:
Prohibit embryonic stem cell research into disease prevention as part of a ban on human cloning. "

" The bill would also ban human cloning, but Mayo Clinic fears that definition could also prohibit embryonic stem cell research. While that type of research is not being done at the clinic, Sexton said, "we need to make sure that any legislation does not limit Mayo Clinic's ability to develop new treatments for diseases that can be devastating to people's lives." "

" More than 50 people gathered in a conference room at the State Office Building in St. Paul to lay out arguments against the bill. The legislation would make it a felony to attempt, perform or aid in cloning by combining embryonic eggs that have the nucleus removed with other human cells. "

" Dayton also told Republicans that he will not sign any policies that he opposes and believes should be presented as separate legislation -- including social issues such as abortion or human cloning. "

" The science of SCNT was clearly an obstacle for just about everyone at the hearing. Pappas advised Fischbach, “You have to explain the biology here of what’s going on.”

" But Fischbach couldn’t. “I will have to look that up. That’s beyond my scientific ability.”

" Pappas shot back, “Mr. Chair, that’s our problem here today.” "

" A bill that would make human cloning a crime in Minnesota is back at the state Legislature. Proponents of stem cell research say the bill could hamper research on the roots of disease and potential therapies. "

" The amendment says "no state funds or federal funds the state receives for state programs may be used to either support human cloning or to pay for any expenses incidental to human cloning." It defines cloning as "generating a genetically identical copy of an organism at any stage of development by combining an enucleated egg and the nucleus of a somatic cell to make an embryo." "

" As Minnesota governor from 2003 until this past January, he slashed a $4.3 billion budget deficit without raising taxes and has been a staunch voice against abortion and embryonic stem cell research. "

" The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, S.F. 649 and H.F. 936, would prohibit abortions after the point in pregnancy at which an unborn child can feel pain, which medical evidence demonstrates is conservatively at 20 weeks from conception. It is based on a landmark Nebraska law enacted last year, which has not been challenged in court.

" The House Health and Human Services Reform Committee approved the bill Wednesday afternoon on a voice vote. "

" Some stem cell researchers and bio-business leaders are urging lawmakers to kill a proposed bill that would ban human cloning in Minnesota.

" They say the legislation could have a chilling effect on embryonic stem cell research at the University of Minnesota, and on potential business investment in the state. "

" "We believe that this bill is a preliminary to another bill which will seek to ban the use of human embryonic stem cells and that really will be disruptive to a number of research programs with important potential clinical benefits," said. Dr. Jonathan Slack, director of the University of Minnesota's Stem Cell Institute. "

" Dale Wahlstrom, chief executive officer of the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, said his organization is concerned with the legislation's "unintended consequences" and the potentially fatal blow it could deliver to the state's fledgling biomedical industry. Companies crave stability when choosing where to open, he said, but the bill's vague language and potential future implications limit the risk businesses are willing to take. "This bill is bad for business in Minnesota," he said. "

" If the bill is passed, Koppel says Minnesota would be the only state in the nation to ban embryonic stem cell research. "

" Human cloning would be banned in Minnesota under a bill introduced [3-10] at the state capitol and supported by Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the statewide pro-life organization.

" Minnesota pro-life advocates have sought the ban ever since the University of Minnesota’s attempts to clone human beings came to light several years ago. 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.

" “Human life must be treated with dignity, not as mere raw material for experimentation,” said MCCL Legislative Associate Jordan Marie Bauer. “This bill will ensure that living members of our species are not created for the purpose of dissecting and destroying them.”

" The ban on human cloning, H.F. 998, is authored by Rep. Bob Dettmer, a Republican from Forest Lake while the Senate version of the bill is expected to be introduced today in the Senate by with Senate President Michelle Fischbach, a Republican from Paynesville, as its lead author.

" Previous attempts to ban human cloning gained traction among lawmakers and citizens, but fell short of the votes needed to become law. The state legislature passed a ban on taxpayer funding of human cloning in 2009, which pro-life Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed into law. That ban needs to be re-authorized in 2011, unless cloning is banned outright, MCCL officials said. "

" In 2009, state leaders put a two-year halt on state funding for human applications of the procedure at the University of Minnesota. The Fischbach-Dettmer proposal would go further by banning it altogether. Those who violated the ban would be committing a felony under the proposal.

" “There is a life destroyed in cloning,” Fischbach said Thursday. “We need to treat human life at all stages with dignity.”

" Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, a leading anti-abortion group, has voiced support for the bill. That group’s executive director is Michelle Fischbach’s husband, Scott Fischbach."

" The House judiciary committee passed the bill on a voice vote and now it goes to the House health and human services committee to receive approval before heading to the House floor.

" Previous attempts to ban human cloning gained traction among lawmakers and citizens, but fell short of the votes needed to become law. The state legislature passed a ban on taxpayer funding of human cloning in 2009, which pro-life Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed into law. That ban needs to be re-authorized in 2011, unless cloning is banned outright, MCCL officials said. "

" However, the available data suggests misuse of welfare money is minimal. Instead, people who receive welfare said the legislation would make it impossible to use the money for basic needs, like paying rent and doing laundry. "

" Minnesota Republicans are pushing legislation that would make it a crime for people on public assistance to have more $20 in cash in their pockets any given month. This represents a change from their initial proposal, which banned them from having any money at all. "

" Several Minnesota Democrats joined with 31 Republicans in offering a bill Wednesday that would ban embryonic stem cell research in the state under the guise of banning “human cloning.” The Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2011 would make somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), a component of creating embryonic stem cell lines, illegal and would impose a felony charge on scientists who conduct such research. Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, the main proponent of the bill, has stated that creating stem cell lines is akin to killing a human being.

" The bill, HF998, defines “human cloning” as “human asexual reproduction accomplished by introducing nuclear material from one or more human somatic cells into a fertilized or unfertilized oocyte whose nuclear material has been removed or inactivated so as to produce a living organism at any stage of development that is genetically virtually identical to an existing or previously existing human organism.” "

"The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, S.F. 649 and H.F. 936, is authored by Sens. Gretchen Hoffman, a Republican from Vergas, Warren Limmer of Maple Grove, and Reps. Mary Liz Holberg, a Republican from Lakeville, House Majority Leader Matt Dean of Dellwood, and House Speaker Kurt Zellers of Maple Grove.

" The initiative is modeled after a law passed in Nebraska last year, which prohibits abortions after 20 weeks from conception. The Nebraska law has not been challenged in court by the abortion industry and was successful in forcing late-term abortion practitioner LeRoy Carhart to take a job doing abortions in Maryland, which has no late-term abortion limits. "

"A bill allowing the University of Minnesota to use state tax dollars for all types of stem cell research won preliminary state Senate backing Wednesday."