The legal aspects of Human Cloning are quite simple and straight forward, and I
will outline them for you in the next few minutes and explain to you what they
mean. It is quite evident though, that you will not be able to understand these
laws if you don’t know what human cloning technically means! So let me begin
by defining for you what our government defines as “human cloning”. Human
cloning, or better termed as “Human Embryo Cloning” is defined as “… to
replicate a human being”. In other words, a clone of someone is just a time
– delayed identical twin of that person! Now that we know what human cloning
means, we can discuss the prohibition on federal funding for cloning for human
beings. President Clinton first addressed this issue in December of 1994. He
directed the National Institutes of Health not to fund the creation of human
embryo’s for research purposes. Then, congress extended this prohibition in
Fiscal year ’96 & Fiscal year ’97 appropriation bills (which are simply
bills for funds set aside for a specfic purpose), barring the Dept of Health and
Human Services from supporting certain human embryo research. The President then
went on to address this issue for one last time on March 4th. 1997. After
deciding that this law had too many loopholes, he laid down the law and issued a
directive that banned the use of any federal funds for any cloning of human
beings. He stated the reason for his prohibition in a press conference in the
oval officeon March 4th. He believes that it is not just a matter of of
scietific inquiry, rather that it is a matter of morality, as you will
understand better as you listen to the other speakers in my group. He states
“each human life is unique, born of a miracle that reaches beyond lab
sciences.” He also states that “I believe we must respect this profound gift
and respect its origin”.