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Based on one part each of theology, ethics, and biology, she traces personhood back to those first stages of life. After conception, she says, "you have the same being all the way to birth and beyond."

Her theology echoes Roman Catholic teaching.

"From the moment of conception," the 1987 encyclical Donum Vitae says, "the life of every human being is to be respected in an absolute way because man is the only creature on earth that God has 'wished for himself' and the spiritual soul of each man is 'immediately created' by God; his whole being bears the image of the Creator."

Susan Barg learned this truth firsthand from her son Aaron. After he was born, her gynecologist told her that he would have counseled her to have an abortion had he known beforehand about Aaron's Trisomy 13.

Barg says she would have found a way to follow her doctor's advice and justify ending Aaron's life. Now she can't imagine making that decision.

"Having Aaron here has helped me understand that God doesn't make mistakes," Susan says. "Aaron has a mission on this earth to fulfill, and a purpose—just like you and I have."

Bob Smietana is features editor of The Covenant Companion, the monthly magazine of the Evangelical Covenant Church, and a freelance religion writer based in Chicago.

Copyright  2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity has more information about its work on its web site.

American Scientific Affiliation has more information about its work on its web site.

The President's Council on Bioethics report, Reproduction and Responsibility, is available online.

More information about Amy Laura Hall is available from her web site.

More Christianity Today articles on cloning from our Life Ethics page includes:

Cloning Report Breeds Confusion | Does it open the door to 'therapeutic cloning'? (May 13, 2004)

A Law That Shouldn't Be Cloned | New Jersey legalizes human cloning for research (Feb. 10, 2004)

Limited Cloning Ban Disappoints Prolife Groups | President's Council on Bioethics recommends a four-year moratorium on research cloning. (Aug. 19, 2002)

Defender of Dignity | Leon Kass, head of the President's Council on Bioethics, hopes to thwart the business-biomedical agenda. (June 07, 2002)

Goodbye, Dolly | We need nothing less than a total ban on human cloning. (May 15, 2002)

New Coalition Rallies Against Human Cloning | After Advanced Cell Technology announcement, sharp criticism comes from all sides. (Dec. 20, 2001)

Opinion Roundup: 'Only Cellular Life'? | Christians, leaders, and bioethics watchdogs react to the announcement that human embryos have been cloned. (Nov. 29, 2001)

Times Fifty | Can a clone be an individual? A short story. (Oct. 02, 2001)

Britain Debates Cloning of Human Embryos | Scientists want steady stream of stem cells for "therapeutic" purposes. (Nov. 22, 2000)

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July 2004, Vol. 48, No. 7