U.S. bishops call for prohibition of human cloning

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U.S. bishops call for prohibition of human cloning
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U.S. bishops call for prohibition of human cloning
The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops is urging Catholics to contact their Senators in support of the Brownback/Landrieu Human Cloning Prohibition Act. The legislation, Senate bill 1899, would completely ban the replication of a previously existing human embryo, even for research purposes.

Several other cloning prohibition bills are being put forth on the Senate floor, but Gail Quinn, Executive Director of the USCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, says the Brownback/Landrieu bill is the only one that truly bans human cloning. According to Quinn, some lawmakers have attempted to redefine the term "cloning" for political purposes, trying to limit the term to replication aimed at live birth.

At issue is the difference between cloning human embryos that would be used for research and then destroyed versus cloning human embryos for the purpose of implanting them in a womb with the intent to grow a fetus or deliver an infant. While Congress stands nearly unanimous against cloning for live birth, heated debates over the last year have revealed the division on cloning for research. The House defeated a bill that would have allowed research cloning.

President Bush has stated he will only sign a bill that bans the replication of human embryos for any purpose. Only the cloning of embryos is at issue, while cloning DNA, cells, molecules, tissues, or organs is explicitly exempt from the cloning bans being proposed.

The Catholic church stands firmly against the replication of embryos on the moral grounds that an embryo constitutes human life and therefore must be protected. Quinn stresses the advances being made in medicine to use adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood, and many other methods for obtaining treatments and therapy outcomes comparable, if not preferable, to those gained from research on embryos.—Tara Dix

For more information:
What is human cloning?
USCCB issue briefing
Catholic teaching on bioethics and reproductive technologies
Cloning and embryo research fact page

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