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AFA ActivismCurrent Action AlertTrue Cloning Ban Passes Judiciary CommitteeAttempt to add "Clone and Kill" language fails
Dear AFA Alert team, A bill to ban human cloning is coming up before the House very soon. We need your help in support of this bill. Here is some background information and a fact sheet on the cloning issue: Congressman Weldon's H.R. 2505 passed the full Judiciary Committee by a vote of 18-11. No amendments were added to the bill, and we expect it to come to the floor soon. The attempt to change the bill into a "Clone and Kill" bill that would allow human cloning, just so the human embryos are killed before implantation, failed by a 19-11 vote. Cloning Fact Sheet» Download Cloning Fact Sheet in PDF format « Summary: The cloning of any human being is morally and ethically wrong. Cloning humans for birth or for harmful research should both be opposed. Cloning of DNA or cells or anything else that does not create a new human life is acceptable. Status: Two groups are working on cloning human beings for live birth. One group claims it will be able to do so within the next 18 to 24 months. Advanced Cell Technology in the U.S. is pursuing human cloning as a way to make embryos to use in destructive experiments. Objections to Human Cloning:
Definition: Cloning is a way of producing a genetic twin of an organism, without sexual reproduction. The method used to produce Dolly the sheep is called "somatic cell nuclear transfer": the nucleus of a body cell ("somatic cell") is transferred into an unfertilized egg whose nucleus has been removed or rendered inactive. A tiny electric pulse may then stimulate development of the resulting embryo, which is an almost exact genetic twin of the creature that supplied the nucleus. Two Opposite Approaches to Banning Human CloningTrue Ban on Human Cloning (H.R. 2505 Weldon) AFA SupportsThis approach would prohibit using the cloning technique to create a new human life. Cloning of DNA and cells and anything else that does not create a new living human organism would be acceptable under this approach. Ban on Implantation of Cloned Humans (H.R. 2172 Greenwood) AFA Opposes This approach would allow the cloning technique to be used to create human life for the purpose of destroying that life in research. The only requirement would be that the cloned human is not allowed to be implanted in a uterus. This approach has been called "Clone and Kill" because it would allow human life to be created and manipulated as long as science can support it, just so the life is destroyed before implantation. This approach would for the first time allow the creation of human life while making it a federal offense to let that life continue. Endorsing the creation of human life solely for the purpose of destroying it would be a new step backward in the protection of human life. This approach would also be completely unenforceable. Once cloned embryo farms are created, it will be impossible to control whether or not any of those embryos are implanted for live birth. Abortion and Roe v. Wade This is an issue of protecting human life and respecting human nature. Some would want to make this into an abortion issue, but it is not. Since cloning happens outside the body, Roe v. Wade does not come into play. In fact, those who want to draw the line at banning the implantation of clones are the ones most likely to run afoul of Roe v. Wade. What would the remedy be for someone who broke the law by implanting a cloned human being? Would the law require an abortion? By contrast, at least ten states restrict or prohibit harmful experiments on embryos in the laboratory without infringing on Roe v. Wade. Destroying human embryos for stem cell research Destroying human embryos for research is reprehensible, but neither approach to banning human cloning would address the issue of federal funding for embryo-destroying stem cell research. The current stem cell debate is over whether or not human IVF embryos can be destroyed for research; the cloning debate is over whether or not new human life can be created for the purpose of scientific tests and then destroyed by government mandate. Dolly was Number 277 To produce one live sheep, "Dolly," scientists created 277 sheep embryos; 276 died in different stages of development or were discarded. Experiments in human cloning would involve the creation and destruction of human life, at many stages, on a massive scale. Human lives are not acceptable scientific guinea pigs; a mistake making a human clone is not the same as a mistake copying an article at the copy machine. Poll - (Time/CNN, February 7-8, 2001)
Will Cloning Lead to:
ACTION NEEDEDSince we expect this vote to come to the floor very soon, we need to have an all out push to defeat a Greenwood approach and support the Weldon bill.Please act on this message from the House Pro-Life Caucus. Please call YOUR representative and ask for a vote FOR H.R. 2505 and AGAINST the "clone and kill" Greenwood bill, H.R. 2172. There are some good talking points in the above factsheet. Please use them for letters to the editor and opinion editorials for your local newspapers. Download a copy of this factsheet (PDF format) to your printer. You can copy it and pass it out to those in your constituency.
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