Posted on 03/24/2008 1:42:22 PM PDT by neverdem
Fertility expert and television scientist Lord Robert Winston has accused senior members of the Catholic church of lying over the controversial embryo research bill after an Easter weekend which has seen it condemned from pulpits up and down Britain.
A coalition of charities and support groups representing scientists, doctors and patients suffering from a wide range of serious conditions has written to every MP urging them to back the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which will allow the creation of part-human, part-animal embryos for medical research.
At the weekend Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien said the bill would allow "grotesque procedures" which would "attack the sanctity and dignity of human life".
But fertility expert Lord Winston, a Labour peer, has told the Daily Telegraph: "His statements are lying. They are misleading and I'm afraid that when the Church, for good motives, tells untruths, it brings discredit upon itself."
Today a leading Church of England bishop added his voice to those who describe the proposals as immoral.
The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, said: "It's a very important part of our society and a very important part of the Christian faith that you should have respect for human embryos.
"If you stop obeying God you start to limit the rights of human beings and this is a case in point."
"A society has to be judged by the way that it treats its poorest and most vulnerable and weakest. And what can be weaker than an unborn child?"
The Church of England bishop added that science must have limits.
"On all sides of this debate we abhor the treatment of patients, for instance, by the Nazis and we have decided not to permit cloning humans," he went on.
"Part of that is that embryos are potential human beings and they should be treated with, at least some, respect as well."
The growing row comes as Gordon Brown is facing an unprecedented challenge to his authority over plans for embryo research with as many as 12 ministers ready to quit if ordered to back the bill.
The Prime Minister is determined to pass the legislation - which will also abolish the need for IVF clinics to consider a child's need for a father and allow the creation of "saviour siblings" to cure sick brothers and sisters.
Gordon Brown has also come under attack from senior members of the Catholic Church with Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien said the bill would allow "grotesque procedures" which would "attack the sanctity and dignity of human life".
Health Secretary Alan Johnson yesterday insisted an "accommodation" would be reached with Catholic Labour MPs to ensure they do not have to vote against their conscience.
But the shape of the compromise - and whether it will be enough to quell the growing rebellion - was still unclear.
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One idea floated yesterday was for MPs with the deepest concerns about parts of the Bill to be given special permission to vote against - but only enough of them to leave ministers confident of overall victory regardless.
That possibility brought a backlash from rebel MPs, with one saying it would be seen as "beyond cynical".
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, leader of the Roman-Catholic Church in England and Wales, yesterday became the most senior clergyman to insist that Labour MPs should be granted a free vote.
He urged Catholic MPs - including Cabinet ministers Ruth Kelly, Des Browne and Paul Murphy - and those of other faiths to be guided by their religious convictions.
So far, Labour has refused to follow Parliamentary tradition on issues of conscience and allow MPs to vote as they wish on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, though it has in the past given free votes on issues such as hunting, reform of the House of Lords and fluoride in drinking water.
Instead, MPs will be whipped - meaning they could face disciplinary action if they refuse to support the Bill.
During its passage through the Lords, the Government imposed a three-line whip - the toughest possible - on Labour peers for every vote.
In denying Labour MPs a free vote on the most controversial aspects of the Bill, the Government is ignoring the recommendations of the joint select committee of MPs and peers set up to scrutinise the proposed legislation before its introduction into the Lords earlier this year.
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Its members failed to reach consensus on the embryology issues and, recognising that they were highly controversial, urged a free vote on them.
The committee also said a free vote should be granted on the proposals to remove the obligation of IVF doctors to have a regard to a child's need for a father when offering treatment.
Furthermore, it was highly critical of Government proposals to allow the removal of the name of an IVF child's biological father from a birth certificate and replace it with that of a second, unrelated "parent", saying that this would effectively mean the "state colluding in a deception".
Yet the Government insisted that such a provision remained in the Bill.
The fact that the Government has deliberately ignored its recommendations starkly contrasts with Mr Brown's claims at Prime Minister's Questions earlier this month that the Bill simply "arose from recommendations made by a Joint Select Committee of the House".
Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said: "I think Catholics in politics have got to act according to their Catholic convictions.
"So have other Christians, so have other politicians. Certainly, there are some aspects of this Bill on which I believe there ought to be a free vote, because Catholics and others will want to vote according to their conscience.
"I don't think it should be subject to the party whip."
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the Catholic leader in Scotland, used his Easter Day sermon to condemn the Government's "monstrous" proposals which he claimed would allow experiments of "Frankenstein proportion".
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A leading Church of England bishop today described the proposals in the Bill as immoral.
The Bishop of Lichfield, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, said: "It's a very important part of our society and a very important part of the Christian faith that you should have respect for human embryos.
"If you stop obeying God you start to limit the rights of human beings and this is a case in point.
"A society has to be judged by the way that it treats its poorest and most vulnerable and weakest. And what can be weaker than an unborn child?"
The Church of England bishop added that science must have limits.
"On all sides of this debate we abhor the treatment of patients, for instance, by the Nazis and we have decided not to permit cloning humans," he went on.
"Part of that is that embryos are potential human beings and they should be treated with, at least some, respect as well."
Chief Whip Geoff Hoon has invited MPs with religious or ethical objections to write to him asking for special permission to abstain from votes on the Bill, expected in May.
But a number of rebels insist that being allowed to stay away is not good enough - and want a free vote so they can vote against.
One Labour source said: "We could be looking at around 12 resignations. Either that, or they will say, 'I'm going to vote against and you can sack me'."
Welsh Secretary Mr Murphy is said to have told colleagues that he is so angry about the Bill that he is prepared to defy the Government for the first time in his career.
Three Government whips - Tommy McAvoy, Tony Cunningham and Frank Roy, also Catholics - also have serious ethical problems with some of its contents.
Non-Catholic ministers are understood to be coming under equal pressure from their own constituencies and churches.
Even MPs who support the Bill in its entirety are joining the clamour for Mr Brown to follow the example of Tory leader David Cameron and the Lib Dems' Nick Clegg and allow his MPs to vote as they wish.
Labour MP Jim Devine, a Catholic who backs the Bill, said: "It should be a conscience vote. I don't want to see colleagues resign."
Former Cabinet minister Stephen Byers, a non-practising Methodist, warned Mr Brown he faced a backlash from voters if he did not offer a free vote.
"On matters like this I want to reach my own decision and not be instructed how to vote," he said.
"The public will look on in disbelief if a matter as sensitive as the creation of human-animal embryos is made a matter of party policy with the Government instructing its MPs how to vote."
The Government has the support of an alliance of medical charities, which is writing to all MPs urging them to back the Bill.
The Association of Medical Research Charities and the Genetic Interest Group, which between them represent more than 200 patient charities, said the research "could greatly increase our understanding of serious medical conditions affecting millions".
They said hybrid embryos - created using the "shell" of an animal embryo with adult human DNA added - could help address a shortage of donated human embryos for research.
Saviour Siblings bred for the contribution of what? Bone marrow? Or a heart?
These people are monsters.
Lord Winston, drop dead.
PS: I've heard this is artwork.
We are not Gods. We shouldn’t do this to make abominations. God help us if we do.
Mitochondria in nuclear transfer individuals have been found to be exclusively or almost exclusively contributed by the recipient oocyte [10–12].
IIRC, the Catholic Church has said in the past that it would consider the somatic cell nuclear transfer technique, but I'm not sure if that included this weird combo in the UK.
"Stop lying about me! I'm perfectly natural!"
Moral Absolutes/Pro-Life ping!
(is gaping at ‘Saviour Siblings’) Monstrous.
Seems like Winston is lying.
God Bless and give strength to those good Catholics.
The Cardinals and Bishops in this article, all the good Holy men, Catholic and Non, God Bless every one of them.
If only the American Bishops had the same iron fists as them.
That’s absolutely creepy. Ugh!
Coming to a Brave New World near you.
It’s time to recognize the evil that is being done in the name of science here.
Unbelievable
There are important distinctions between the various "somatic" cells (such as skin) and specifically germinal cells (gametes and zygotes.) Very complicted, but Richard Doerflinger has done a good job of ewxplaining the strict ethical limits.
The thing is, more and more women are refusing to submit to ovarian hyper-stimulation no matter what the financial incentive, and so human ova are getting harder to obtain for lethal experiments. The entire purpose of the human/animal project, inserting human DNA into animal ova, is to create non-consenting human experimental subjects, human (or 99% human) embryos without human ova.
That's the whole deal.
Using living embryonic human beings as experimental animals is monstrous; but it is no less monstrous to create human-animal combinations for the same purpose.
In any country where abortion is legal, it is of course also legal to engage in lethal experimentation, including the laboratory begetting and destruction of a variety of life-forms with human components.
The Nazi doctors in that place where there is “wailing and gnashing of teeth” are only envious that they didn't live two generations later, when they could do whatever they wanted to do with the political backing and financing of the British government.
These experiments are already compromising human genetic identity, human species distinctives, and the dignity of human beings per se.
God bless the defenders of His Image in the human race. God bless and strengthen those British Catholic MP's.
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