Washington, DC - The Bush administration announced yesterday that it favors the strongest of several competing bills to make human cloning a federal crime - a pro-life ban that would outlaw not only the creation of cloned children, but also the creation of cloned human embryos for research.
The administration's position, presented by Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services Claude A. Allen to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, echoes that of many pro-life organizations and some ethicists who oppose the creation of human embryos for research.
Allen stated: "Secretary Thompson and President Bush oppose any and all attempts to clone a human being. We oppose the use of human somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning techniques either to assist human reproduction or to develop cell- or tissue-based therapies."
Under questioning, Allen repeatedly stated that the position of the President and Secretary Thompson is that cloning humans for any reason, reproduction or research, should not be illegal.
But many biomedical researchers oppose such a total ban on all human cloning research. They claim studies on "stem cells" from 5-day-old cloned human embryos offer the best chance for developing promising new therapies for a variety of debilitating diseases. They favor aq "clone and kill" bill sponsored by pro-abortion Congressman Jim Greenwood (R-PA) and opposed by pro-life organizations.
The deep differences of opinion expressed by Allen and other witnesses during a 4 1/2-hour hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health revealed how difficult it might be for Congress to accomplish what had at first seemed a simple task: outlawing human cloning.
Everyone at yesterday's hearing expressed support for that general principle. But a decision on how to implement such a ban is forcing legislators to consider not only the relative promise of various branches of experimental medicine, but also such difficult ethical issues as the relative moral standing of early embryos and dying children.
"Human cloning rises to the most essential question of who we are and what we might become," said pro-life subcommittee Chairman Michael Bilirakis (R-FL).
Allen's remarks, vetted at length by the White House on Tuesday, were the first clarification of what President Bush meant by his previous, general assertions opposing human cloning. But they addressed just one aspect of an escalating national debate on human cloning and embryo cell research.
Meanwhile, pro-life Congressman J.C. Watts (R-OK) said Thursday he would push for a vote this summer to ban all forms of human cloning, including techniques aimed at producing cells for medical treatments and cures.
"The way I see it there are two bills on cloning right now - one that allows cloning so long as the clone is destroyed before birth and one that prohibits cloning in all circumstances. I will be strongly supporting the complete ban on human cloning, the Dave Weldon-Bart Stupak legislation, and will push for a vote by the House on this bill next month," Watts explained.
Watts said he was confident lawmakers would ``defeat any backdoor attempts to permit human cloning with mandated embryo destruction under the guise of medical research. Under no circumstances will the House of Representatives pass a compromise human cloning bill that appears to ban human cloning, but really bans the right to life."
``The Bush administration has stated the president cannot support a bill on human cloning that allows for so-called 'therapeutic' cloning,'' Watts said. ``I agree.''
Several normally pro-life members of Congress - including Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT), who once led the charge against human fetal tissue research -- recently wrote Bush to express their support for federal funding of human embryo stem cell research. Allen said the administration's decision on that issue, which does not require congressional approval, will be announced by the president at a later time.
Legislators focused yesterday on a pro-life bill, introduced by pro-life Reps. David Weldon (R-FL) and Bart Stupak (D-MI), that would make it a crime for anyone to create a human cloned embryo for any purpose, and on another..
Allen said the administration has concluded that any law allowing the creation of cloned human embryos would be problematic because some scientists might be tempted to go ahead and let them mature into babies. "It's too easy, too simple to cross that line," Allen said.
Moreover, others asked, what if such a pregnancy were discovered? "No government agency is going to compel a woman to abort the clone," said University of Chicago medical ethicist Leon Kass. "And there would be an understandable swarm of protest should she be fined or jailed before or after she gives birth."
Because of such difficulties, Allen said, the administration favors the stronger Weldon bill - although full support still depends on the resolution of some "technical issues."
Some opponents of the anti-life Greenwood bill noted the difficulty of legislating scientists' intent - a problem that Greenwood said could be resolved, perhaps, by changing the bill's language to outlaw the transfer of a cloned embryo into a woman's womb.
Pro-life groups responded favorably to the Bush administrations anti-cloning position.
Robert A. Best, President of the Culture of Life Foundation, commended President George W. Bush for his principled stand against human cloning.
Bush's stand "is based on the principle that all human life is sacred, and that there is no need for destroying one human being, at the earliest stage of life, for the health of another. Human cloning involves the destruction of a human embryo, in fact, many human embryos," Best explained.
You can see Deputy HHS Secretary Allen's statement at: http://energycommerce.house.gov/107/hearings/06202001Hearing291/Allen449.htm
You can see a pro-life statement and documented research on cloning by Richard Doerflinger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops at: http://energycommerce.house.gov/107/hearings/06202001Hearing291/Doerflinger456.htm
Pro-Life Infonet
21. juni 2001