Bishops" Official Hails Passage of Bill to Ban Human Cloning
WASHINGTON (February 28, 2003) -- The House of Representatives passed the Human Cloning Prohibition Act (H.R. 534) by an overwhelming vote of 244 to 151, Feb. 27. The Act, sponsored by Congressmen Dave Weldon (R-FL) and Bart Stupak (D-MI), prohibits human cloning for any purpose, but explicitly allows biomedical research involving the cloning of DNA, genes, tissues, organs, plants, animals, and cells other than human embryos. A similar bill, S. 245, has been introduced in the Senate. The House also rejected a substitute amendment to authorize the most grotesque application of human cloning"mass producing human embryos to destroy them for experimentation.
"This vote reflects America"s rejection of the notion that human life is a commodity to be created for experimentation," said Cathy Cleaver, Esq., Director of Planning and Information for the Pro-Life Secretariat of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Ms. Cleaver noted that some representatives who opposed the Weldon/Stupak bill claimed to be against human cloning but in favor of using "somatic cell nuclear transfer" or SCNT. This was deceptive, she said, because SCNT is simply the scientific name for the human cloning procedure. In fact, SCNT is the same procedure that Raelians claim to have used to create "Eve."
"The impact of cloning on women was also considered," the USCCB official continued. "Allowing human cloning for "therapeutic" or research purposes would require countless numbers of women to surrender their eggs by an extraction process that is both painful and dangerous. Making women into egg factories for this research is an utterly demeaning proposition."
"We now look to the Senate for quick passage of a ban on human cloning," she said.