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HB111 • 2026

Crimes and offenses; human cloning prohibited, criminal penalties provided

Crimes and offenses; human cloning prohibited, criminal penalties provided

Crime
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
Rigsby
Last action
2026-03-03
Official status
Read Second Time in Second House
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The effective date is October 1, 2026, which means the law will not be active immediately upon passage.

HB111: Making Human Cloning a Crime

This bill makes human cloning illegal in Alabama and sets criminal penalties for anyone who tries to clone a person or move cloned embryos.

What This Bill Does

  • Creates the crime of human cloning as defined by specific scientific processes.
  • Makes violating this law a Class C felony offense.
  • Bans shipping, transferring, or receiving any embryo made through human cloning.
  • Prohibits moving eggs, embryos, fetuses, or body cells if the goal is to clone a person.

Who It Names or Affects

  • People who perform or try to perform human cloning.
  • Individuals involved in shipping or receiving materials for human cloning.

Terms To Know

Human Cloning
The process of creating a living organism that is genetically identical to another person using specific cell manipulation methods, such as moving genetic material into an egg or splitting embryos.
Embryo
A human organism from the single-cell stage up to eight weeks of development, created by fertilization or other means.
Somatic Cell
Any body cell with a full set of chromosomes taken from a living or deceased person.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The law does not restrict research on cloning plants, animals, or creating cells and tissues that are not human embryos.
  • Fertility treatments like in vitro fertilization remain legal unless the specific goal is to birth a child identical to another person.

Bill History

  1. 2026-03-03 Senate

    Read for the Second Time and placed on the Calendar

  2. 2026-03-03 Senate

    Reported Out of Committee Second House

  3. 2026-02-05 Senate

    Pending Committee Action in Second House

  4. 2026-02-05 Senate

    Read for the first time and referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary

  5. 2026-02-03 House

    Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass - Adopted Roll Call 262 (Yeas 96, Nays 0)

  6. 2026-02-03 House

    Third Reading in House of Origin (Yeas 96, Nays 0)

  7. 2026-01-21 House

    Read for the Second Time and placed on the Calendar

  8. 2026-01-21 House

    Reported Out of Committee House of Origin

  9. 2026-01-13 House

    Pending Committee Action in House of Origin

  10. 2026-01-13 House

    Read for the first time and referred to the House Committee on Judiciary

Official Summary Text

Crimes and offenses; human cloning prohibited, criminal penalties provided

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
HB111 INTRODUCED
Page 0
HB111
EJFZ52C-1
By Representative Rigsby
RFD: Judiciary
First Read: 13-Jan-26
PFD: 06-Jan-26
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EJFZ52C-1 10/10/2025 GP (L) lg 2025-2991
Page 1
PFD: 06-Jan-26
SYNOPSIS:
This bill would create the crime of human
cloning and provide that a violation is a Class C
felony.
This bill would also provide that the
prohibitions created by this act do not restrict
certain scientific research and assisted reproductive
treatment, provided that those practices do not involve
human cloning.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to human cloning; to create the crime of human
cloning; and to provide criminal penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. For the purposes of this act, the following
terms have the following meanings:
(1) EMBRYO. An organism of the species homo sapiens
from the single cell stage to eight weeks of development. This
term includes an embryo that is derived by fertilization,
parthenogenesis, human cloning, or any other means from one or
more human gametes or human diploid cells.
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HB111 INTRODUCED
Page 2
more human gametes or human diploid cells.
(2) FETUS. An organism of the species homo sapiens from
eight weeks of development until complete expulsion or
extraction from a woman's body, removal from an artificial
womb, or other similar environment designed to nurture the
development of the organism.
(3) HUMAN CLONING. a. The process of human asexual
reproduction, accomplished by:
1. Introducing the genetic 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;
2. Artificially subdividing a human embryo at any time
from the two-cell stage onward resulting in more than one
human organism;
3. Introducing pluripotent stem cells from any source
into a human embryo or artificially manufactured human embryo
or trophoblast under conditions where the introduced cells
generate all or most of the body tissues of the
fully-developed living organism; or
4. Genetically modifying human skin cells or organisms
into viable oocyte or sperm with genetic material from the
same source as the oocyte or sperm used in reproduction to
create an embryo.
b. This term does not apply to in vitro fertilization,
the administration of fertility-enhancing drugs, or other
procedures used to assist a woman in becoming or remaining
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HB111 INTRODUCED
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procedures used to assist a woman in becoming or remaining
pregnant, unless performed with specific intent to result in
the gestation or birth of a child genetically identical to
another embryo, fetus, or human being, living or dead.
(4) OOCYTE. The human female germ cell, the egg.
(5) SOMATIC CELL. A diploid cell, having a complete set
of chromosomes, obtained or derived from a living or deceased
human body at any stage of development.
Section 2. (a) A person commits the crime of human
cloning if the person intentionally does any of the following:
(1) Performs or attempts to perform human cloning.
(2) Participates in an attempt to perform human
cloning.
(3) Ships, transfers, or receives for any purpose an
embryo produced by human cloning.
(4) Ships, transfers, or receives, in whole or in part,
any oocyte, embryo, fetus, or human somatic cell for the
purpose of human cloning.
(b) A violation of this section is a Class C felony.
Section 3. This act does not restrict areas of
scientific research not specifically prohibited by this act,
including research into the use of nuclear transfer or other
cloning techniques to produce molecules, deoxyribonucleic
acid, cells other than embryos, tissues, organs, plants, or
animals other than humans.
Section 4. This act shall become effective on October
1, 2026.
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