Focus on the Family Criticizes Daschle's Delay on Cloning Ban

Focus on the Family
Monday, 17 June 2002

Pro-Family Leader Goes on National Radio to Call for an End to Stonewalling

Dr. James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, criticized Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in his daily broadcast today for deliberately blocking critical pro-family legislation, most recently a cloning ban offered by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. Daschle has repeatedly reneged on his promise to bring the bill up for a vote in the Senate. Dobson, heard by 7.5 million listeners each week, urged listeners to call for an end to Daschle's intentional obstruction.

The Brownback bill is the only legislation that would prevent the cloning of human embryos for any purpose—medical research or a live birth. Other "phony" cloning bans have been introduced in the Senate that still allow human embryos to be cloned and killed for their stem cells.

Last week, Dr. Dobson encouraged concerned citizens to call Sen. Daschle's office, but the calls, normally answered by office staff, were forwarded to a number that required an access code to leave messages. Daschle's South Dakota office admitted that the change was made because of the volume of calls received in the Washington, D.C., office on Friday. Dobson criticized Daschle for this and other obstructions.

"Senator Daschle is not only obstructing the democratic process, but thumbing his nose at the House, the president and the American public," said Carrie Gordon Earll, Bioethics Analyst for Focus on the Family. "As an elected public servant, he has an obligation to set aside his personal agenda and allow a fair and impartial hearing of the Brownback cloning ban.

"Human embryos are not a natural resource, like lumber, nor are they farm animals to be bred for profit and sold as commodities. Civilized people do not resort to cannibalizing their young for their spare cellular parts."

Studies show most Americans agree. A May 2002 Gallup/USA Today/CNN poll revealed that 90 percent of Americans oppose human cloning designed specifically to result in the birth of a human being and 61 percent oppose cloning human beings for experimentation.

Earll added, "We urge the Senate leadership to stop playing around with an issue that Americans consider critical to the definition of humanity as we now know it."

For more information, or to contact Focus on the Family, see their website at: www.family.org