Clone-and-Kill: Democrats' Bill Forces Destruction of Human Embryos
White House Threatens Veto; GOP Leaders Urge All Republicans to Oppose Phony Cloning “Ban”
Washington,
Jun 6, 2007 -
On the House floor today is the peculiarly titled Human
Cloning Prohibition Act (H.R. 2560) which proponents say bans “reproductive human
cloning.” But contrary to its name, this phony “ban” explicitly requires the killing of human embryos and permits
a process that will inevitably lead to the cloning of human babies.
The bill – introduced late yesterday by Rep. Diana DeGette
(D-CO) and brought to the floor today without the opportunity for amendments – mandates
the destruction of cloned human embryos created solely for exploitation and
research. As the National Right to Life Council notes, the only thing the
bill “bans” is the implantation of those embryos in a mother’s womb:
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“H.R. 2560 actually
does ban only the following: allowing a human clone to live,
by implanting her or him ‘into a uterus or the functional equivalent of a
uterus’…
“As far as we know, Rep. DeGette has not yet explained …
how forfeiture of an implanted human embryo would be accomplished.”
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Once created, these cloned human embryos would be identical
to other human embryos created by fertility clinics. Columnist Charles
Krauthammer blasted
similar clone-and-kill legislation
in 2001:
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“First of all, once the industry of cloning human embryos
has begun and thousands are being created, grown, bought and sold, who is
going to prevent them from being implanted in a woman and developed into a
cloned child?
“Even more perversely, when that inevitably occurs, what is the federal government going
to do: Force that woman to abort the clone?”
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Krauthammer – a supporter of embryo stem cell research –
says this process sanctions “the most ghoulish and dangerous enterprise
in modern scientific history: the creation
of nascent cloned human life for the sole purpose of its exploitation and
destruction.”
France, Canada, Germany, and at least 19 other nations
completely ban human cloning, and the U.S. House has passed complete bans
twice by an overwhelming majority. H.R. 2560 would put America at odds
with our allies who also recognize the dangers of exploiting and destroying nascent
human life. The White House has issued an unequivocal veto threat:
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“The President unequivocally opposes all forms of human
cloning. … [I]f legislation were presented to the President that permitted
human embryos to be created, developed, and destroyed simply for research
purposes, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.”
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This clone-and-kill legislation would force taxpayers to foot the bill for the destruction of innocent
human life. The federal government should be in the business of
protecting – not killing – human life.
