None of us had difficulty recognizing that the destruction of human life that took place on September 11 was in fact an attack on humanity itself. It left the world horrified and resolved to unite in preventing such a tragedy from ever happening again.
More recently, we have been informed by the news media of a more subtle attack on humanity. This attack should also leave us horrified and united in our resolve to stop it. I speak of the announcement that scientists have misused the power of science in producing human life by cloning, in a way comparable to the cloning of Dolly, the sheep, several years ago.
Perhaps we are not horrified, as we should be, because of three faulty premises widely used to justify the unjustifiable.
1. There is the faulty premise that the early embryo is not a human person.
2. There is the faulty premise that human life can legitimately be and destroyed so long as there is a resulting benefit to humankind.
3. There is the faulty premise, perhaps better called the pre-tense, that such destruction is the only way to arrive at desired benefits.
Once the false premises are unmasked by the truth, horror is the only possible reaction to human cloning – horror at its potential for the dehumanization of civilization. Let’s look at the truth here.
1. The truth is that human life begins at conception, whether conception takes place as it should or by cloning. From the moment of conception, we are speaking of a human person with intrinsic human dignity and rights, whether or not the human person comes full-term to birth.
2. The truth is that the end, no matter how worthy, cannot justify manufacturing vulnerable human lives for willful destruction. The cloning of human embryos for therapeutic purposes dis-criminates against the most helpless in the name of pursuing the health and well-being of others.
3. The truth is that there are other legitimate and scientifically viable means to pursue the same goals as cloning human embryos, means which respect human dignity. It has not been proven that cloning will produce any clinical benefits. Other research, using stem cells acquired by morally licit means, is already doing so with great promise for the future.
Human cloning violates fundamental ethical and moral norms. Humanity is not served when, in the pursuit of human benefits, the truth is not respected. Human cloning, whether for stem cells, for body parts or for manufacturing new people, is to be condemned unequivocally.
This further attack on humanity deserves a response of horror comparable to our reaction to the attack of September 11. Moreover, we must unite in preventing it from happening, and our elected officials must help us to ban it. A truly human future for humanity requires this of us.