CWA Says Bioethics Commission Decision Creates a False Distinction

7/11/2002

From: Rebecca L. Riggs, 202-488-7000, ext. 126, or Kelly Walmsley, 703-683-5004, ext. 140, both of Concerned Women for America

WASHINGTON, July 11 -- Concerned Women for America is disturbed to learn that the President's Commission on Bioethics has issued a recommendation to the President calling for a false distinction between two types of cloning, leaving the door open to deadly experimentation in the future. The commission has proposed to ban so-called "cloning-to-produce-children" and to place a four-year moratorium on so-called "cloning-for-biomedical-research."

"Concerned Women for America reminds the President and the American people that all cloning is ethically and morally wrong," said Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America. "We are glad that the commission, according to chairman Leon Kass, realizes that all forms of cloning 'begin with the same act: the production of cloned human embryos,' but we fear the commission ignored that fact in their conclusions."

"But what the commission doesn't seem to understand, is that the immorality of the act of cloning alone should close the books on any further discussion," said Rios. "To say that a particular end to the process would justify this immoral means is an unjustifiable position. This decision leaves the American people vulnerable; a moratorium on a dangerous act is not enough. This is the country where all men are believed to be created equal -- we cannot stand by a decision that may one day turn our progeny into products at convenience stores."

Concerned Women for America supports the current position of the Bush administration on cloning, and it is confident that President Bush will stand by his words in a speech given at the White House in April, when he said, "I believe all human cloning is wrong, and both forms of cloning ought to be banned. Research cloning would contradict the most fundamental principle of medical ethics, that no human life should be exploited or extinguished for the benefit of another."

------ Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.