Joe Carter at the Evangelical Outpost has a great primer on cloning that is filled with information and links. He writes:
The primary moral objection to cloning for research is that it creates human life solely for the purpose of destroying it; using a human embryo merely as a means to an end. In order to justify the killing of these human beings for their "spare parts", we have to ignore the scientific understanding what makes a member of the human species and argue on the metaphysical definition of what constitutes "personhood." But as Richard Doerflinger, deputy director for pro-life activities for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, notes, "You can’t point to many instances in human history where that process of dividing the human species came to any good."I would add that there is no instance in which defining "personhood" according to some characteristic or property, such as ability, maturity, or contribution to society, has been or is morally acceptable.
Joe also notes that use of adult stem cells, applied successfully in over 58 therapeutic applications, has none of the ethical problems and far fewer of the biomedical complications of embryonic stem cell research (ESC). The number of treatments derived from ESC research: Zero.
Read the entire post here.
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