Focus on the Family Disappointed with Bioethics

Focus on the Family
Thursday, 11 July 2002

Report Leaves Human Embryos at Risk

Carrie Gordon Earll, Bioethics Analyst for Focus on the Family, issued the following statement in response to the report released today by the President's Council on Bioethics that recommended a temporary moratorium on all human cloning:

"While we would have preferred a total ban on so-called 'research cloning,' at least a majority of the council members recognize the danger in proceeding with human cloning of any kind. Hopefully, this report will serve as a speed bump to slow down the apparent rush to 'clone and kill' human embryos for their stem cells.

"The recommended moratorium is only a stopgap measure and does not guarantee that human embryos created by cloning will be protected. This is disappointing and goes against the views of the general public, the U.S. House of Representatives and President Bush. It's disconcerting to realize that learned, intelligent individuals, like these council members, fail to understand the simple biological fact that all cloning is reproductive and creates a new human life. It is deceptive to create separate categories of human cloning based on what scientists intend to do with the embryo.

"Cloned embryos are 100 percent human just as Dolly the sheep is 100 percent sheep. Biology confirms that cloned human embryos are fully human and worthy of protection. Hopefully, the councils' next task will be to lead a discussion on this crucial question of the embryo's humanity and status in our society."

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