“The Church of Scotland is seriously misguided when it sanctions a ‘clone and kill’ policy, whereby human embryos can be created in a laboratory, used for experimental purposes, and destroyed,” said Father Joseph Howard, executive director of the American Bioethics Advisory Commission.
Father Howard’s remarks follow the Church of Scotland’s endorsement of so-called therapeutic cloning. The Presbyterian denomination sanctions destructive research on cloned embryos less than 14-days old, because the church does not regard such a cloned person as a “complete human.”
“The church’s reference to ‘complete human’ is diabolical on its face when one considers the scientific fact that a human being begins at conception/fertilization, and is at that moment complete,” Father Howard said.
“Scientific evidence confirms that a cloned human being, from his or her inception, would be every bit as much a human person as the leader of this Presbyterian church. All cloning techniques are gravely immoral and must be outlawed.”
Release issued: 24 May 01
