|
Source: Associated Press, Pro-Life
Infonet; March 21, 2003
New York Bill Authorizes Embryonic Stem Cell
Research
Albany, NY -- New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver last
week criticized President Bush's pro-life stance prohibiting human
cloning for use in scientific research that would involve the creation
and destruction of human life.
"I have serious objections to the total ban on therapeutic cloning
and somatic cell nuclear transfer advanced by the Bush administration,"
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said.
The remarks came after the state Assembly passed legislation, 96-46,
permitting the destructive research. The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled
Senate.
"Despite its title, the bill does nothing to prohibit cloning but
rather allows the mass cloning of human beings for experimentation,"
explained New York State Right to Life in a statement provided to
the Pro-Life Infonet. "The bill also creates a mandate to kill these
members of the human family by the time they reach birth. An even
milder form of clone and kill legislation was handily defeated in
Congress with bipartisan strength."
"This bill is so Orwellian in the extreme that it would allow a
human fetus created through cloning to develop throughout the gestation
period, while experimentation and harvesting take place. Under this
legislation, this experimentation would take place right up until
birth at which time there exists a mandate to kill the child created
through cloning," the statement said.
The New York State Catholic Conference also opposed the Assembly
bill, calling it a "moral outrage."
"We sympathize with those who suffer illnesses or disabilities that
can potentially be aided by stem cell research. But nothing can
justify the creation and killing of human beings for the purpose
of possibly curing other human beings," said Executive Director
Richard Barnes.
ACTION: Please contact your member of the New York State Senate
and urge opposition to the bill -- the Reproductive Cloning Prohibition
and Research Protection Act. Go to http://www.senate.state.ny.us and
click on "Senators." Find out how your state representative voted
by contacting New York State Right to Life at 518-434-1293.
|
