Wisconsin citizens and their representatives have been busy taking noble stands on behalf of the unborn. Unfortunately, the states governor has a track record of vetoing anything that is pro-life.
Governor James Doyle today nixed legislation that would have prohibited human cloning in Wisconsin. Assembly Bill 499 would have banned both "reproductive cloning" where a cloned person is brought to birth, and "therapeutic cloning" where a cloned person is killed in the course of scientific experimentation
Wisconsin pro-life organizations expressed significant disappointment.
"Its outrageous that our Governor would veto a ban on the destructive and dehumanizing practice of human cloning," said Peggy Hamill, Pro-Life Wisconsins state director. "Governor Doyle is effectively holding the door wide open for unscrupulous scientists to clone human beings in our state to create life for the express purpose of killing it. This is a real black mark on the State of Wisconsin most of our Midwestern neighbors have had the good sense to outlaw this procedure."
The states of Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota all have comprehensive laws banning human cloning. Wisconsins bill, authored by Representative Steve Kestell (R-Elkhart Lake) and Senator Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan), prohibits somatic cell nuclear transfer, or SCNT, which is the scientific name for the human cloning process.
Susan Armacost, Legislative Director for Wisconsin Right to Life, stated, "With no prohibition in place, scientists are free to pursue cloning of living human embryos which can be destroyed at the embryonic stage or developed in an artificial womb or uterus to a stage equivalent to the time of birth."
Doyle asserted the bill was not about human cloning but about restricting stem cell research. "Respect for human life means you don't turn back on cures that can save human lives," he said.
And, the American Diabetes Association commended the Governor for his decision, "The [ADA] applauds today's decision by Governor Doyle to veto a bill that would set stem cell research in Wisconsin back decades. The [ADA] strongly opposes human reproductive cloning, and supports a complete ban and stiff penalties for anyone who breaks such a law. However, therapeutic cloning is not the same as reproductive cloning and should not be confused as such. By offering scientific understanding of how stem cells develop, therapeutic cloning offers great promise and hope in the search for better treatments and a cure for diabetes.
However, Matt Sande, Pro-Life Wisconsins director of legislative affairs disagrees, stating, "The bill would not hinder medical research in Wisconsin by obstructing stem cell research, despite the Governors claims to the contrary. Assembly Bill 499 allows animal cloning, tissue cloning, molecular DNA cloning, embryonic stem cell research, and adult stem cell research an ethical and effective alternative. How is this seen as stifling research? Just what research does the Governor have in mind?"
John Huebscher, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference, added, "The future health of Wisconsins economy and Wisconsins citizens cannot rest on the promotion of research that turns human life into little more than a commodity. Human cloning produces a human embryo. The human embryo is human life. Human life has inherent dignity."
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