Bush Supports Strongest Pro-Life Ban on Human Cloning
Source: Washington Times, Associated Press; June 21, 2001

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 be illegal.

But many biomedical researchersoppose 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 htmlect 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