Editorial

All human cloning - whether for reproduction or research purposes - involves a human life. That is why Wisconsin Legislature is seeking to ban all forms of human cloning in our state.

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Assembly Bill 499 and Senate Bill 243 are companion bills that would establish criminal penalties for engaging in human cloning and/or transferring or acquiring a human embryo or any cell, tissue, or product derived from a human embryo produced by human cloning.

Catholic Conference supports ban. In recent testimony before legislative committees, John Huebscher, executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC), testified in support of the human cloning ban. He urged legislators to affirm that "the common good is not served by denying the moral status of the most vulnerable members of our human family."

It is interesting that the votes on the cloning ban may come close to our celebration of July 4th. For our country was founded on the "self-evident truth" that "every member of the human family is endowed by our Creator with an inalienable right to life," Huebscher pointed out.

Proponents of human cloning have argued that the embryo produced through the cloning process is something other than a human life. But Huebscher responded that "there can be no doubt that the embryos created via cloning are human life. Indeed, it is the very fact that embryos are human that drives the desire to create them."

Representatives of our state's biotechnology research community have warned that restrictions on human cloning could undermine their efforts. They want to establish Wisconsin as a leader in biotechnology and thereby feel the ban could threaten economic development.

But Huebscher countered that economic interests do not trump moral and ethical considerations. "Our lives do not belong to someone else, not to a king asserting dominion, not to a plantation owner pursuing profit, not to a scientist seeking cures."

Human beings deserve protection. Human beings deserve our respect and protection. America was indeed founded on the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Human life in all stages - whether a tiny embryo, an unborn baby, a child, an adult, a disabled or sick person, or an elderly person - all should have their lives protected.

Our ancestors fought for freedom to express their views in a democratic society, to worship, to vote, to enjoy freedom of the press. Our country was embroiled in a civil war to abolish slavery.

Set moral and ethical parameters. Now, we are facing new challenges in biotechnology. We must set moral and ethical parameters for research that makes respect for life the top priority, not economic gain or reproductive rights or even curing diseases. We must continue to insist that the end does NOT justify the means, as our Catholic teaching tells us.

Please contact your state representative and state senator asking them to vote in favor of the Comprehensive Human Cloning Ban (if it has not already come up for a vote). If the ban passes in the Assembly and Senate, it will go before Governor Jim Doyle. Urge him to sign it into law.

Following the legacy of our nation's founders, we must protect all human life in all stages.

Mary C. Uhler