BOB ABERNETHY: Whether it's Dr. Seed who first clones a human or someone else, most voices in this week's debate assume human cloning will be done. But, should it be? Is it moral? Richard Doerflinger is an adviser to the U.S. Catholic Bishops on issues of medical ethics. In New York, Rabbi Moshe Tendler is a professor of medical ethics, law, and biology at Yeshiva University. Welcome to both of you.Let's assume, for the moment, that cloning becomes technically possible. Rabbi, under what circumstances would you consider it moral?
Rabbi MOSHE TENDLER (Yeshiva University): Your question probes the sloganism that we grew up with in theological discussion, namely, infinite worth of man: man, woman the apex of creation. What you're asking is, really, what do those things mean? "Infinite worth," it means that every human being is a unique species. And hence, give me a circumstance such as a family that was murdered during the Holocaust, leaving but one survivor, a sterile male, I certainly would clone him. Likewise, show me someone whose life is being threatened and in need of a bone marrow or same cell transplant and there is no match available, I certainly would clone him and then use the resulting child as a source of same cells, a source of bone marrow, and this child would be doubly loved for himself or herself, and for saving the parent.ABERNETHY: Richard Doerflinger, here in Washington, why do you think cloning should be forbidden?
RICHARD DOERFLINGER (National Conference of Catholic Bishops): I think some methods of artificial reproduction have already tended to blur the meaning of parenthood by introducing third parties, technicians, sperm and egg donors, surrogate wombs. Cloning as a method of reproduction really violates the meaning of parenthood. It takes another step toward completely turning reproduction into manufacture to specifications. And I believe that the human meaning of parenthood, of sexual reproduction, is that man and a woman come together and open themselves to the future, to a child who has his own or her own identity, his or her own future. Here we're turning that around. We're trying to exert ultimate control of the next generation by specifying, "You are going to be exactly my identical twin." We are going to control this as a product. This is a very unhealthy way for people to procreate humans.
ABERNETHY: By why would it be wrong if a couple is infertile? Why wouldn't it be okay for them to use this technique, if it works, to have a child?
Mr. DOERFLINGER: Well, I think it would be unethical to even try to perfect the process because it would involve discarding and damaging so many hundreds of children in the process. But I also think that once you begin the project, you cannot prevent anyone from cloning hundreds or thousands of people from one genome, or from further tinkering with that to say, "This is an almost perfect person. There's just this one characteristic we need to correct to then create the perfect person."
