Wisconsin Pro-Lifers Hope Governor Sees Cloning Ban's Merits
by Ed Thomas
October 6, 2005
(AgapePress) - A bill designed to ban all forms of human cloning has passed through the Wisconsin State Senate and is on its way to the state's Democratic governor. Pro-life advocates are now waiting to see if Governor Jim Doyle will oppose AB 499 or sign it into law.A 21-to-12 vote sealed passage of AB 499 last week. The measure survived an attempt to soften its comprehensive ban with an amendment that would have prohibited only reproductive cloning while allowing so-called "therapeutic cloning" -- that is, cloning then killing the cloned embryo to extract its stem cells. That amendment was defeated, however, and the bill went on to pass intact the following day.
Matt Sande, Legislative Affairs Director for Pro-Life Wisconsin, says AB 499 preserves the conservative value of life without closing off the option of stem cell research entirely. "A comprehensive human cloning ban does not prohibit human embryonic stem-cell research where stem cells are derived from embryos donated from in vitro clinics," he explains, "because in that case they're not cloning the human embryo to get the stem cells that they're studying."
Moreover, Sande points out, AB 499 "doesn't hinder adult stem-cell research, and that is where we're seeing the real clinical success." He says supporters of the bill are hopeful that Governor Doyle will appreciate the measure's fairness to both the pro-life and stem cell research advocates' positions and will choose to sign rather than veto the bill.
"Certainly Pro-Life Wisconsin is going to mount a campaign to convince the governor of the merits of this bill," the group's spokesman notes. He calls AB 499 "a common-sense measure that draws a line in the sand, ethically, and kind of places a moral framework on scientific research."
Sponsors of the bill hope to get Doyle to respect the people's desire to avoid cloning while allowing the continuation of stem cell research to find medical treatments, Sande adds. "The idea that this bill is banning," he asserts, "is human cloning; it's not banning research, certainly not adult stem-cell research."
If Governor Doyle signs AB 499 into law, Sande says Wisconsin would then join Michigan, Iowa, and at least four other U.S. states with comprehensive cloning bans.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
