Cloning Humans

By Joe Hewitt

Originally published in The Dallas Morning News
Sunday, May 19, 2001.

Where is it written, AThou shalt not clone humans@? By what standard is cloning human beings immoral or unethical?
People continue to say there are moral and ethical questions without delineating them. If a majority of people in a democracy vote to outlaw something, they don=t need a moral explanation; they can just do it. Americans well might. But I believe if they do it will be because of a panicked reaction to the unknown rather than for solid, moral or ethical reasons.

Perhaps the real, deep down, fear is that sex will eventually be downplayed. But that, of course, is ridiculous. A society that produces babies without the need of sexual relations exists only in science fiction. If human cloning is perfected and accepted it will be expensive and rare. In vitro fertilization was greeted with the same suspicion, but Atest tube babies@ and their families are doing just fine. Neither in vitro nor cloning would make an artificial human. Both require a mother=s womb.
Granted, there are dangers in human cloning. The whole idea may turn out to be a bust, producing only malformed infants. If so, a ban would be necessary. But, until we find out, outlawing scientific research would be using the same medieval reasoning that nurtured the Dark Ages. So far, only government-funded research is prevented by law.
There is nothing in the Bible to prohibit human cloning. God created. Then He equipped mankind to procreate. With the ability God gave us, we produce children. The soul is God=s department, not ours. Cloning humans is no more immoral or unethical than giving birth to an identical twin, which is a natural clone. None would claim an identical twin to be an artificial entity with no soul.
People get the wrong idea about human cloning. They think the clone emerges full grown from some mystic machine. With successful human cloning, an infertile husband=s wife could bear a son literally just like Dad. The baby would be like Dad=s identical twin but younger.
Some people were ready to forbid organ transplants because of potential unethical practices. Human cloning can proceed with the same ethical safeguards. We are no more Aplaying God@ by utilizing every opportunity to save or enrich human life than we are when we conceive and bear children, or when we use advanced gene therapy.

Our Creator is the maker of moral laws. If God chooses to prevent human cloning, it just won=t happen.
Millions of potentially adoptable American babies are being lost to abortion. Couples yearning for children are spending small fortunes to travel to Russia and other Eastern European countries to adopt. There is a great need in the hearts of these loving couples that can be filled with perfected human cloning. People who desperately want children genetically their own will demand it.