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Stem-cell researchers haven't even developed what's called a "proof of concept" to take the experiment to the next step of using a human. It's too dangerous because of the massive tumors that keep developing.

Why not support both adult and embryonic stem-cell research?

Speaking recently at a Senate hearing, paraplegic James Kelly put it succinctly: "Huge obstacles stand in the way of cloned embryonic stem cells leading to cures for any condition. To overcome these obstacles, crucial funds, resources, and research careers will need to be diverted for many years to come. These obstacles include tumor formation, short and long-term genetic mutations, tissue rejection, prohibitive costs, and the need for eggs from literally tens of millions of women to treat a single major condition, such as stroke, heart disease, or diabetes. Every condition that cloned embryos someday may address is already being addressed more safely, effectively, and cheaply by adult stem cells."

In addition, research should not benefit James Kelly or me or any other person with a disability at the expense of other human life. My husband and I support spinal-cord-injury research, but not to the degree that the benefits of any potential cure outweigh serious moral questions, effects on society, and whether it is an affront to God.

Why do you want to make therapeutic cloning of human embryos illegal?

First, let's call it what it is: Research cloning. In research cloning, scientists clone human beings and destroy them for study and testing. There's no therapy, certainly not for the clone. This research is about scientists creating a class of humanity solely for experimentation, to extract cells from them. That's why it should be illegal. We must not give legal protection to anyone who would create human beings merely to exploit them.

Shouldn't we care more about living people than embryos?

If we violate a human embryo today, tomorrow we will become callous about the fetus, then the infant, and then people with physical defects. A society that honors life will safeguard the rights of the disadvantaged, the weak, and the small.

But the weak are in mortal danger if a society allows scientists to create a class of human beings (as in cloning for research) in order to kill them and use their cellular tissue. A world in which the biotech industry sets the moral agenda is a threat to me as an adult and a quadriplegic.

Biotech advocates believe that a human embryo is just tissue, not a person. How can you convince them otherwise?

It doesn't matter whether you believe, as I do, that a soul dwells within a tiny human embryo. That embryo is not a goat, rat, or chicken embryo. It's human. Each of us began our journey on this planet as a living human embryo. We owe to embryonic human life the protection that any human life enjoys.

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March 2003, Vol. 47, No. 3