The Alabama House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved a bill to outlaw human cloning.

The bill, by Rep. Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, would make it a Class C felony to clone, attempt to clone, or participate in the attempted cloning of a human being.

Rigsby, who is a pharmacist, said he got the idea for the legislation when he attended a conference on the ethics of biological and medical research.

Rigsby said he believes about 11 other states have laws to prohibit human cloning.

“It made be start asking questions about what does Alabama have,“ Rigsby said.

”And there was nothing on the books that would prevent it. Nothing allows it, but if you don’t have anything that prevents it, it’s the wild, wild west. So I want to make sure those guardrails are there just to protect the dignity of life.”

A Class C felony carries a sentence of one to 10 years.

Rigsby said he believes researchers could reach the capability of human cloning in the next two to five years.

He noted that Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1996. He said horses, cows, dogs, cats, and monkeys have been cloned since then.

“It’s not going to be tomorrow. But we could be a couple of years away,“ Rigsby said.

Rep. Cynthia Almond, R-Tuscaloosa, proposed an amendment to ensure that in-vitro fertilization would not be affected by the bill.

The committee adopted the amendment.

Rigsby said the language to protect IVF was already in the bill, but said Almond’s amendment moved it to an earlier part of the bill.

Rigsby said his bill, HB380, would only apply to efforts to clone a human being, not other forms of cloning, such as those used to develop a human organ.

“My issue here today is for the safety and the integrity of life and the valuing of life,” Rigsby said. “I do not want life to become a commodification.

“And so what HB380 does is just basically put some guardrails around the science that’s quickly advancing so that we do continue to value life and don’t have a bunch of little Phillips running around here, which can cause a lot of moral and ethical issues.”

Rigsby’s bill moves to the House.