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On Thursday afternoon The Chronicle of Higher Education will host an online discussion with former Calvin president Anthony J. Diekema, author of Academic Freedom and Christian Scholarship. It may be a very lively debate. But with the publication of this article, Weblog is sure that the conversation and debate won't be starting then. (Weblog is interested in readers' responses to the article, especially from faculty and administrators at Christian colleges.)

Human cloning patented
The U.S. Patent Office has awarded a patent on a "method for producing a cloned mammal," including "human oocytes," the anti-cloning International Center for Technology Assessment revealed yesterday.

"It is horrendous that we would define all of human life as biological machines that can be cloned, manufactured and patented," ICTA executive director Andrew Kimbrell told The New York Times.

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity agrees. "The possible patenting of human beings, no matter their age, size or stage of existence, would be a crushing blow to essential human rights and dignity," CBHD president John F. Kilner said in a press release. "What is slavery other than one person owning another? By giving a company ownership of human beings produced through a cloning process, this patent apparently gives government approval to a new form of slavery. … There must be a legislative ban on this kind of practice. Human beings are not property."

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) agrees. He tells the Times that he'll introduce a bill prohibiting patents on human beings, including embryos. "I think the patent office will appreciate having that clarity, given the applications that are coming into the patent office," he said. Good luck, Senator. The Senate is having a hard enough time as it is deciding how much cloning it should ban.

Belgium becomes second country to legalize euthanasia
In other major bioethics news, Belgium's parliament voted 86-51 to allow assisted suicide. The Netherlands made a similar move in April. As expected, the country's Roman Catholic bishops condemned the action. "All this is directly opposed to the fundamental respect for human life that lies at the heart of a society based on human dignity," they said.

The country's doctors also criticized the bill. "Doctors know that this law is simply flawed and find it totally unacceptable that individuals who are not terminally ill will also be eligible for euthanasia," Marc Moens, vice chairman of the Belgian medical chamber ABSYM, tells Reuters. Three quarters of the nation's doctors opposed the law.

Life ethics:

• Bankruptcy bill drawn into abortion issue | A major bankruptcy bill stuck in Congress for four years is hung up yet again, this time by a move aimed at stopping pro-life activists from avoiding fines by declaring themselves or their organizations bankrupt (Fox News)
  
  
• Appeals court says abortion activists created threat and can be held liable (Associated Press)
  
  
• Also: Abortion foes intimidated doctors, U.S. court rules (Reuters)
  
  
• Abortion issue stalls U.N. family planning funds | At the behest of House GOP leaders, lawmakers voted yesterday to delete language from an emergency spending bill that would have forced the Bush administration to provide international family planning funds to the United Nations. (The Washington Post)
  
  

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May (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46