New Jersey Right to Life
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New Jersey Set to Affront Human Dignity; Statement by the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity |
January 2, 2004
Today is NOT a State Holiday.There is still time to call andfaxMcGreevey.Urge him to veto A2840/S1909. Phone (609) 292-6000. Fax (609) 292-3454. Please see thePress Release issued today by the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity below. From: Marie Tasy, Public & Legislative Affairs Director, New Jersey Right to Life, 113 North Avenue West, Cranford, NJ 07016 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity
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PRESS RELEASE
Release Date: January 2, 2004
New Jersey Set to Affront Human Dignity
New Law Will Legalize Embryo Research, Cloning, and Fetal Harvesting
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Chicago, Illinois - January 2, 2004 - The New Jersey Legislature has passed a bill that, if signed by the Governor, would make the state one where some of the most terrible crimes against humanity can be legally perpetuated. Promoters of the bill have argued that the legislation bans cloning and promotes embryonic stem cell research. However, bill S1909/A2840 will not only explicitly allow embryonic stem cell research, it will also allow somatic cell nuclear transfer (cloning) and the development of unborn clones up until birth. It only explicitly prohibits cloning "an individual" which the bill defines as, "the replication of a human individual by cultivating a cell with genetic material [the SCNT cloning process] through the egg, embryo, fetal and newborn stages into a new human individual." Legal analysis of the bill by Prof. Gerard Bradley at Notre Dame Law School currently available on the |
http://www.cloninginformation.org/ web site has noted that any woman found carrying a cloned fetus would be required by law to abort her fetus, even if she decided not to do so. Since forced abortions are not likely, the birth of human clones is almost certain to result from this legislation. Prof. Bradley also points out that the bill, in effect, allows the creation of a market in embryonic and fetal body parts by allowing "reasonable payment" for services or purchases related to cloning and harvesting. John F. Kilner, Ph.D., President of The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, says regarding the bill, "It is disturbing enough that this law--intentionally or unintentionally--will result in the birth of cloned human beings and the creation of fetal human beings explicitly in order to mine them for body parts. But it also weakens the legal protection of newborn infants by amazingly excluding them from the definition of a 'human being': human beings are not those who have developed through the embryonic and fetal 'stages', but only those who have developed through the newborn 'stage' as well." Daniel McConchie, Director of Public Relations and Public Policy with The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity said, "This bill is the most explicit and extreme legalization of embryo research, cloning, and fetal organ farming in the world. If Governor McGreevey signs this bill, it will provide clear-cut protections for egregious human rights violations: the exploitation of even late-term fetuses as natural resources." For more information about this bill, visit Americans to Ban Cloning http://www.cloninginformation.org/ or New Jersey State Legislature http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/ and search for bill S1909 or A2840. |
Diocese Of Metuchen
Office of the Bishop
STEM CELL RESEARCH BILL POSES DIRE CONSEQUENCES
By The Most Rev. Paul G. Bootkoski, Bishop of Metuchen
When we hear about individuals selling their organs on the internet, babies being sold on the black market or scientists trying to clone human beings, we are appalled and call for an end to these inhumane actions. Yet here in New Jersey, we are heading straight towards all these horrific consequences if Gov. McGreevey signs the stem cell research bill (A2840, S1909) into law.
Passed by the Assembly this month, the stem cell bill allows for research with embryonic and adult stem cells, as well as cells from somatic nuclear transplantation.
The use of adult stem cells is morally acceptable, and is proving to be very successful. The same is not true for embryonic stem cells, which can only be derived by killing a living human embryo. Equally abhorrent, this bill would also allow for the cloning of human life using somatic nuclear transplantation. The bottom line is that this bill desecrates the sanctity of human life and is morally wrong.
How could our legislators have passed this bill? How could most individuals be unaware of its dire consequences? I believe it is because the bill, as written, is so complex it is easily misunderstood and misinterpreted. This is also an emotional issue which is easily oversimplified.
Studies have shown that embryonic stem cells have not helped a single human patient or demonstrated any therapeutic benefit. Adult stem cells, on the other hand, have produced many positive results, and they do not involve creating and destroying a human life.
The cloning aspect of the stem cell bill is equally disturbing and should outrage every human being.
Many people support the stem cell bill because they see it is the way to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease, and other devastating injuries and illnesses. They have been led to believe that only embryonic stem cells can provide these cures, and that is just not true.
According to the bill “somatic cell nuclear transplantation, shall…be permitted in this State.” I doubt that most people know what that means and that’s the problem. It is my understanding that those words equate to the scientific cloning procedure that was used to create “Dolly” the sheep. More bluntly, somatic cell nuclear transplantation means a human life is created. This human being can be implanted into a woman where it is grown, then harvested for its stem cells. Can you imagine! Life will be a commodity and our humanity will be changed forever.
I can only hope that our legislators did not understand or were misinformed about the ramifications of the stem cell bill that they passed. I pray that Gov. McGreevey will not make the same mistake. Life is too fragile, too vulnerable, and too sacred to be destroyed by the stroke of a pen. It is not too late for our Governor to withhold his signature from the bill. The future of life as we know it is in his hands.The St. John Neumann Pastoral Center • P.O. Box 191 • Metuchen, New Jersey 08840-0191 • (732) 562-1990
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Father Peter West
Date:December 30, 2003
Priests For Life Statement Urging Governor James McGreevey to
Veto A2840/S1909
NEW JERSEY STEM CELL/CLONING BILL:
AN ALL OUT ASSAULT ON HUMANITY
Dateline NY-- The New Jersey bill (A2840/S1909) passed by the Assembly on Monday, December 15 is unprecedented. This bill could have national or even international implications. A2840/S1909 expressly authorizes the creation of human embryos through "somatic cell nuclear transplantation which the President's Council on Bioethics unanimously agrees is the creation of a new human being by cloning. In addition, the bill authorizes the commercial traffic in the body parts of human beings "cultivated" up to the moment of birth.
Because cloning is defined in the proposed bill as "cultivating" the cell "through the egg, embryo, fetal and newborn stages into a new individual human individual," the prohibited conduct is drawn at the newborn stages, which this bill says is when a new individual human comes into existence. In other words, the only cloned humans outlawed by the bill are those in the "newborn stages" and the term "newborn stages" is not defined in the bill.
This bill is an abomination to humanity. Any elected Catholic official who has voted for this bill or is complicit in any way in aiding its passage has engaged in scandalous behavior which is "defined in the Catechism as establish[ing] laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice (Catechism para. 2284, et. seq.)" They have violated the moral order in a most grievous and public way.
The Holy Father has repeatedly said that stem cells for purposes of experimentation or treatment should never come from human embryos. Any treatment which claims to save human lives, yet is based upon the destruction of human life in its embryonic, fetal or newborn stage is logically and morally contradictory, as is any production of human embryos for the direct or indirect purpose of experimentation or eventual destruction.
We urge Governor McGreevey, a Catholic, to follow the teachings of his faith and veto this horrific bill. We implore Governor McGreevey to instead make ethical research using adult stem cell research one of the priorities of his administration.
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Family Research Council
801 G St. NW
Washington, DC 20001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 30, 2003
CONTACT: Bill Murray, (202) 393-2100
FOR RADIO: JP Duffy
NEW JERSEY POISED TO BECOME THE NATION'S
CLONE-TO-KILL CAPITOL
Gov. Jim McGreevey (D-NJ) is prepared to sign monumental pro-cloning legislation shortly after the New Year
WASHINGTON, D.C. * New Jersey's embattled and notoriously unpopular Governor, Jim McGreevey (D), has signaled that he will sign into law the nation's most sweeping pro-cloning legislation to date.
"If ever there was a piece of legislation which tramples the sanctity of life, it is the one Gov. McGreevey is poised to sign," said Connie Mackey, Family Research Council's Vice President for Government Affairs. "The new law would authorize New Jersey's large biotech industry to actually clone a human embryo, implant that embryo into a woman's womb, develop the embryo to the fetal stage and then kill it for 'research purposes.'
"Allowing human babies to be clon ed, implanted, and then killed for their parts combines the horrors of partial-birth abortion with the Frankenstein-like practices of human cloning that 90 percent of Americans oppose. This single piece of legislation will let the entire world know that New Jersey is the number one most hostile place for human life in recent memory.
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Paterson Pastors' Workshop Opposes Passage of Stem Cell Research Bill
The Paterson Pastors' Workshop, an inter-denominational group of
Christian clergy leaders representing 50 local congregations in Passaic County, have contacted Governor McGreevey's office expressing their urgent concern over his pending decision to sign the Stem Cell Research legislation into law this weekend.
In January 2003, the Paterson Pastors' Workshop purchased a quarter page statewide advertisement in the Star Ledger urging local citizens to contact their assembly represenatives in opposition to this bill. Thegroup feels strongly that harvesting human embryos for the purpose of scientific research, otherwise known as reproductive cloning, is an offense to God and violates human life. They have expressed, " it will be the poor, disenfranchised, minority women of our state who will be exploited and potentially harmed the most with this practice."
The group may be reached at 973-279-4118 for comment.
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