CGS-authored
The U.S. Senate is set to vote on human cloning within the next few weeks. Unfortunately, a polarized political climate and lack of political leadership could block urgently needed legislation.
The great majority of people intuitively understand that the creation of cloned children would be an affront to human dignity and autonomy, would open the door to even more dangerous forms of eugenic manipulation, would serve no good purpose and needs to be banned.
But the same techniques that could be used to create cloned children can also be used to create human embryos for medical research.
Should this be allowed? People opposed to creating cloned children can differ in good faith about creating human embryos for research.
It's a complex issue that engages many moral, social, political and other values.
To date, the politics of cloning have been dominated by two groups: biomedical scientists and anti-abortion conservatives.
Not surprisingly, most scientists support research cloning and most conservatives oppose it.
Given this lineup, it's tempting to frame the cloning issue as the latest extension of the abortion wars. But this...
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