CMA Doctors Cite Concern for Women and the Unborn in Hailing House Human Cloning Ban Vote

2/27/2003

From: Margie Shealy of the Christian Medical Association, 423-844-1047 or 423-341-4254, MAShealy@cmdahome.org; website: http://www.christianmedicalassociation.org

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 -- The nation's largest faith-based association of doctors today hailed the House of Representatives' vote to ban all forms of human cloning (H.R. 534) as a vital step toward protecting women, society and human life from the dangers of cloning.

David Stevens, M.D., Executive Director of the Christian Medical Association, said, "This victory is one step closer to fully protecting women, our society and human life from the dangers of cloning."

Stevens credited House leaders such as bill sponsor Rep. David Weldon (R-15th/FL), also a physician, for "cutting through deliberately confusing scientific semantics presented by biotechnicians eager to create human embryos only to destroy them through research. Dr. Weldon made clear that human cloning is not a matter of simply creating cells or tissues. Human cloning is creating a living human embryo--the early stage of human life that each one of us passed through. And once you allow the cloning of human embryos, there is virtually no way to prevent rogue scientists from implanting those embryos in women for the purpose of reproduction."

Stevens added, "Now it's up to the Senate's physician, heart transplant specialist Dr. Bill Frist, to debunk the human cloning myths and set the scientific record straight in the Senate. Our leaders and the public need to understand the intolerable risks that human cloning poses to both patients and to the women whose eggs would be required for the cloning process.

"The claims of using human cloning to eradicate diseases such as ALS, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and diabetes are absolutely incredible. To get enough eggs to seek clone cures for just these four diseases, every woman in the U.S. aged 18-44 (approximately 55 million) would have to endure two cycles of ovarian hormone hyper-stimulation and then undergo laparoscopic surgery. That treats women as machines producing a commodity and poses a serious threat to their future health and fertility.

"What kind of society would allow its women and the unborn to be exploited in this way? The ethics, the concern for women, and the dangers posed to society have united advocates at both ends of the political spectrum. Let's hope our Senators likewise see through the semantics, recognize the dangers of human cloning and send the President a bill he will sign."