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AFA ActivismAction Alert - 8/1/2001House Bans Human Cloning ... Period!Legislation Has Implications for Embryonic Stem Cell Research
(AgapePress) - Following a day of emotional debate on the issue, the U.S. House yesterday voted to ban all cloning of human embryos. » Click here to see how members of the House voted. « The House of Representatives, on a 265-162 vote, last night passed the Human Cloning Prohibition Act. The bill, sponsored by Republican Congressman Dave Weldon of Florida and Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan, bans completely the cloning of a human being. The vote followed hours of debate that weighed moral principles against the potential scientific benefits of such efforts. Voting against the ban were 143 Democrats and 19 Republicans. Earlier the House had rejected the Greenwood amendment that would have allowed limited cloning of human embryos for medical research. The White House has praised the vote to ban human cloning, calling it a "strong ethical statement" that President Bush endorses. In a prepared statement, the President said, "We must advance the promise and cause of science, but must do so in a way that honors and respects life." Supporters in the House also called the vote a victory for ethics. Republican Representative F. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin said the issue is about "providing moral leadership for a watching world." J.C. Watts, a Republican congressman from Oklahoma, used less subtle language: "Cloning is an insult to humanity. It is science gone crazy," he said. Richard Lessner, the director of American Renewal, welcomed the passage as a victory for human life. "This really is a Dr. Frankenstein proposition," Lessner says. "We don't want to go down that road because we've never in our history treated human beings as property. The one time we did in slavery we fought a bloody civil war to end it, and we don't want to go back to that sort of philosophy that regards people as property." Similar legislation banning human cloning has been introduced in the Senate by Republican Sam Brownback of Kansas. Effect on Stem Cell Research The ban on human cloning carries with it implications on the use of stem cells in research. President Bush is poised to announce soon his decision on whether federal funds will be permitted to be used for embryonic stem cell research. That is an issue that has divided pro-life advocates in Congress. Former Presidential candidate Gary Bauer says the current debate over the use of human embryonic stem cells in research is being made more difficult than it should be. He says the problem is people are not being told the whole truth. "The fact that the research on adult stem cells is being ignored or downplayed really is proof that there's a hidden agenda in certain parts of the so-called 'scientific community,' where they want the right to be able to manipulate human flesh in the laboratory for their own research purposes," Bauer says. "To get that right, they're not delivering all the information that the American people need to make a valid judgment on this issue." According to Bauer, some members of the scientific community have just as much of an agenda as other politically active people. He states the current debate is a prime example of that agenda. He says there is a lot of money to be made and federal grants to keep open, as well as the power and prestige, so many of the researchers tend to lose if embryonic stem cell research is shown in its true light. Critics of embryonic stem cell research claim many of the researchers and their schools have reputations that will be damaged is embryonic research is proven to be less effective than adult stem cell work. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch has come out in favor of embryonic stem cell research and the destruction of the human embryos used as a source for stem cells. Hatch says parents of the embryos should have the final say on how they are used or destroyed. "Keep in mind those who produce those cells have a right to determine what happens to them," the Utah Republican said. But Bauer says that attitude is nothing more than "high-tech bio-slavery." He believes embryonic stem cell research is "basically using another human being without its consent in order to benefit others. That is the definition of slavery," he says. "So I would argue that embryonic stem cell research is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution." Others agree that embryo destiny and abortion in general are both forms of slavery. ACTION NEEDEDAFA celebrates the great victory in the House of Representatives yesterday by voting 265-to-162 to make all human cloning a federal crime. However, the most difficult battle is still to come as it moves on to the Senate.Let's begin to pray that the U.S. Senate will follow the House in defending the sanctity of human life as created by God. AFA urges you to contact your Senators and urge them to support this ban on the cloning of human embryos. The Capitol Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. President Bush will announce a decision soon on whether to allow taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research. Please contact him and politely tell them not to use your tax dollars to fund embryonic stem cell research. Even if you have contacted them before on this issue, please do so again. The president is under intense pressure from supporters of stem cell research, and your calls are sorely needed. President George W. Bush Comment line: 202-456-1111
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