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New Jersey Law Allowing Human Cloning is World's "Most Extreme and Explicit"

TRENTON, January 5, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey signed legislation Sunday which permits human cloning, where the human beings created in the process for experimentation must be killed before birth.

Promoters of the bill argued that the legislation bans cloning and promotes embryonic stem cell research. However, the new law (bill S1909/A2840) not only explicitly allows embryonic stem cell research; it also allows somatic cell nuclear transfer (cloning) and the development of unborn clones up until birth. It only explicitly prohibits cloning "an individual" which the bill defines as, "the replication of a human individual by cultivating a cell with genetic material [the SCNT cloning process] through the egg, embryo, fetal and newborn stages into a new human individual."

Legal analysis of the law by Prof. Gerard Bradley at Notre Dame Law School currently available on the http://www.cloninginformation.org web site has noted that any woman found carrying a cloned fetus would be required by law to abort her fetus, even if she decided not to do so. Since forced abortions are not likely, the birth of human clones is almost certain to result from this legislation. Prof. Bradley also points out that the bill, in effect, allows the creation of a market in embryonic and fetal body parts by allowing "reasonable payment" for services or purchases related to cloning and harvesting.

John F. Kilner, Ph.D., President of The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, says regarding the bill, "It is disturbing enough that this law--intentionally or unintentionally--will result in the birth of cloned human beings and the creation of fetal human beings explicitly in order to mine them for body parts. But it also weakens the legal protection of newborn infants by amazingly excluding them from the definition of a 'human being': human beings are not those who have developed through the embryonic and fetal 'stages', but only those who have developed through the newborn 'stage' as well."

Daniel McConchie, Director of Public Relations and Public Policy with The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity said, "This bill is the most explicit and extreme legalization of embryo research, cloning, and fetal organ farming in the world. If Governor McGreevey signs this bill, it will provide clear-cut protections for egregious human rights violations: the exploitation of even late-term fetuses as natural resources."

For more information about this bill, visit Americans to Ban Cloning http://www.cloninginformation.org or New Jersey State Legislature http://www.njleg.state.nj.us and search for bill S1909 or A2840.

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