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Life
Action League Condemns Human Cloning
In
response to the announcement by Worcester-based
Advanced Cell Technology that they had
successfully cloned a human embryo, Life Action
League Chairman Laurie A. Letourneau made the
following statement.
“This
morning we received the disappointing news that
Advanced Cell Technology has once again shown its
utter disrespect for human life in our very own
backyard. ACT has successfully cloned a human
embryo, one of the earliest forms of human life,
for the expressed purpose of providing treatments
for terminal diseases. However, the same
procedures being publicized by ACT may also be
used to manufacture human beings.
“In
its cloning procedure, Advanced Cell Technology is
creating human lives, genetically cloned humans
with an exact replica of another human’s
blueprint for life, to eventually destroy them.
They fail to recognize that each embryo they clone
is already a unique individual, with a cloned set
of DNA, skin color, even personality, which has
already been determined.
“Life
Action League calls on the United States Senate to
follow the lead of the U.S. House of
Representatives and the wishes of President Bush
and immediately ban the cloning of human life. The
House overwhelmingly voted to outlaw this
procedure despite the pro-cloning votes of U.S.
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) and the rest of
the state’s Congressional Delegation. President
Bush has repeatedly expressed his belief that
human cloning violates basic moral and ethical
principles and has no place under law in the
United States.
“Even
if the Congress bans human cloning, the technology
ACT has developed may still be used outside the
United States. Thus, Advanced Cell Technologies
has opened the door to an era when humans are
scientifically manufactured with no regard to
ethical or moral restraints. Under the leadership
of President Bush, we hope that the United States
will persuade foreign governments to prohibit
human cloning. We will continue to work to educate
our citizens about the dangers of cloning and the
harmful work being undertaken in Worcester at
Advanced Cell Technology.
“Life
Action League will periodically be issuing updates
on this situation and future events to raise
public awareness about human cloning and Advanced
Cell Technology Inc.” |
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The
Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition
came with Schenck from Washington, D.C. to urge West to
reconsider the direction his company is taking. Mahoney
believes that West will meet with them in the near
future, though they got no further than a cell phone
conversation with West’s secretary in last week’s
effort.
William
Cotter, of Operation Rescue/Boston, brought together the
score of demonstrators outside the ACT building. He told
MassNews that “contrary to the claims by ACT that they
have no intention of cloning human beings, they already
have cloned a human being by virtue of the cloning of an
embryo. This, and the fact that they deem such embryos
disposable after extracting spare parts, is indicative
of their Godless philosophy.”
While
at least four policemen and a security guard watched
from outside the ACT building, Rev. Shenck led the
demonstrators in prayer. Rev. Mahoney urged the group,
“Pray for members of the Senate to hammer away on
Senator Daschle to get this bill moving. Also, pray for
the end of the culture of death, and the establishment
of the culture of life.” Senator Byrd of West
Virginia, a Baptist, may be a key player to pray for,
Mahoney was told at a meeting with Congressional
leaders.
Mahoney
said ACT was trying to make an artificial, invalid
distinction between an embryo and a baby, between
“therapeutic” and “reproductive” cloning.
Demonstrator
Fred Moriarty of Worcester said he was there because,
“It’s the right thing to do. As soon as the egg is
fertilized, it’s a human being, not a cat or a dog.
People need to be more concerned about their souls and
less concerned about their physical well-being.”
One
elderly gentleman from Fitchburg said, “I’m a
pro-lifer and have been with pro-life groups for over 15
years. It’s like, now we have to apologize for things
in the past. We don’t want to have to apologize for
this forty years from now. It’s not like the Holocaust
where they hid secret death camps. What’s happening
here is visible. The important thing is to speak up, to
avoid the tragedy that might come from this.”
A
woman said, “I’m absolutely against cloning. It’s
against human beings. Every life at every stage deserves
respect.”
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