New Jersey Members of Congress Urge Gov. to Reject Cloning Bill
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 21, 2003
Trenton, NJ (LifeNews.com) — Three pro-life members of Congress from New Jersey are urging their Governor, Jim McGreevey, to reject a bill allowing some forms of human cloning. Passed the state legislature last week, it would allow the creation of cloned embryos that could be killed at any point during the nine months of their gestation to obtain their embryonic stem cells for research.
In a letter to McGreevey authored by Reps. Chris Smith, Mike Ferguson, and Scott Garrett, they call the bill the "most extreme and ethically flawed pro-cloning legislation in the country."
"This legislation will launch New Jersey blindly into the vanguard of terrible human rights violations and grisly human experimentation. We are literally facing the prospect of creating a human clone, and implanting this cloned baby into a woman’s womb. Once this happens, nothing can stop the world’s first human clone from being born and starting a horrible new era of human history," the Congressmen say.
The bill would not only allow the cloning of human beings for research purposes, but would also allow cloned human embryos to be implanted into a woman’s womb, allow the cloned human to develop to the fetal stage, and then use this human child for research where he or she could be killed for their "spare parts."
Researchers could also destroy leftover human embryos from fertility clinics for their cells.
Pro-life groups support scientific research, but they prefer ethical methods using such sources as adult stem cells.
"As advocates for increased funding to support life-affirming biomedical research, we fully understand the drive to cure debilitating diseases and to improve health care for those who are suffering," the three add. "But allowing human fetus farms for research is not an ethical or practical solution."
The Congressmen say that adult stem cells should receive priority if state or federal government intends to fund such scientific research.
Alternatives to embryonic stem cell research are "moving forward at an incredible rate and that does not have the ethical baggage attached to human cloning," the trio said in their statement.
McGreevey was supposed to sign the bill on Sunday, but that may be delayed, according to Mary Tasy of New Jersey Right to Life.
The bill signing might be postponed while McGreevey goes to the funeral of Senator Dick Codey’s father. Codey is the state Senate president who sponsored the bill in that chamber.
The bill is A2840/S1909.
ACTION: Contact Governor McGreevey at 609 292-6000 or fax a letter to (609) 292-3454 to express your opinions. You can also email the Governor using the forms found at https://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail.html
Related web sites:
New Jersey Right to Life – https://www.njrtl.org