HUMAN CLONING PROHIBITION ACT

Transcription

1 HUMAN CLONING PROHIBITION ACT Model Legislation & Policy Guide For the 2016 Legislative Year Accumulating Victories, Building Momentum, Advancing a Culture of Life in America

2 INTRODUCTION With each passing year, we face new and increasingly complex challenges to the sanctity of human life. New biotechnology is advancing far faster than society s ethical and legal constraints that would ensure its moral use. When Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1932, human cloning was just science fiction. Today, human cloning is a reality. Human cloning is the process through which a human egg is taken from a woman and then the nucleus is removed and replaced with a nucleus from another person s body cell. Using electrical shock or chemical bath, the egg is tricked into believing it has been fertilized, and it begins to divide, becoming a human embryo. A general misconception exists that there are two types of human cloning: therapeutic cloning (or cloning-for-biomedical-research ) and reproductive cloning (or cloning-to-producechildren ). However, these designations are simply two different rationales or justifications offered for the same procedure, known medically as somatic cell nuclear transfer or human cloning. Both rationales are morally wrong because both scientifically begin with the creation of a cloned human being at the embryonic stage of life. The differing justifications that one clone is destined to be destroyed for its stem cells (i.e., research) and the other for implantation in a womb, do not and cannot change the basic scientific fact that the cloned human embryos created for therapeutic or reproductive purposes are simultaneously human beings. Currently, no federal law bans human cloning for any purpose, and the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet spoken on the subject. AUL has drafted the Human Cloning Prohibition Act to assist states seeking to ban human cloning for all purposes. For more information and drafting assistance, please contact AUL s Legislative Coordinator at (202) or Legislation@AUL.org. DENISE M. BURKE, ESQ. Vice President of Legal Affairs Americans United for Life

3 HUMAN CLONING PROHIBITION ACT HOUSE/SENATE BILL No. By Representatives/Senators Section 1. Title. This Act may be known and cited as the Human Cloning Prohibition Act. Section 2. Legislative Findings and Purpose. (a) The [Legislature] of the State of [Insert name of State] finds that: (1) At least one company has announced that it has successfully cloned a human being at an early embryonic stage of life, and others have announced that they will attempt to clone a human being using the technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. (2) Efforts to create human beings through cloning mark a new and decisive step toward turning human reproduction into a manufacturing process in which human beings are made in laboratories to preordained specifications and potentially in multiple copies. (3) Creating cloned, live-born human children (or cloning-to-produce-children ) begins by creating cloned human beings at the embryonic stage of life. Some propose that this same process be used to create human embryos for destructive research, specifically as sources of stem cells and tissues for possible treatment of other humans (or cloning-for-biomedical-research ). (4) Many scientists agree that attempts at cloning-to-produce-children pose a massive risk of producing children who are stillborn, unhealthy, or severely disabled and that attempts at cloning-for-biomedical-research always result in the destruction of human beings at the embryonic stage of life when their stem cells are harvested. (5) The prospect of creating new human life solely to be exploited ( cloning-toproduce children ) or destroyed ( cloning-for-biomedical-research ) in these ways has been condemned on moral grounds as evincing a profound disrespect for human life.

4 (6) The distinction between so-called therapeutic and reproductive cloning is a false distinction because both begin with the reproduction of a human being at the embryonic stage of life: one destined for implantation in a womb and one destined for destructive farming of its stem cells. Regardless of their ultimate destiny, science defines all human embryos as human beings. (7) If cloning-for-biomedical-research is permitted, it will be nearly impossible to ban only attempts at cloning-to-produce-children. Cloning would take place within the privacy of a doctor-patient relationship; the implantation of embryos to begin a pregnancy is a simple procedure; and any government effort to prevent the implantation of an existing cloned embryo or to prevent birth once implantation has occurred would raise substantial moral, legal, and practical issues. (b) Based on the findings in subsection (a), it is the purpose of this Act to prohibit the use of cloning technology to initiate the development of new human beings at the embryonic stage of life for any purpose. Section 3. Definitions. As used in this Act only: (a) Embryo means an organism of the species homo sapiens from the single cell stage to eight (8) weeks development. (b) Fetus means an organism of the species homo sapiens from eight (8) weeks development until complete expulsion or extraction from a woman s body or removal from an artificial womb or other similar environment designed to nurture the development of such organism. (c) Human cloning means human asexual reproduction accomplished by (1) introducing the genetic material from one or more human somatic or embryonic cells into a fertilized or unfertilized oocyte whose nuclear material has been removed or inactivated before or after introduction, so as to produce an organism at any stage of development with a human or predominantly human genetic constitution; (2) artificially subdividing a human embryo at any time from the two-cell stage onward, such that more than one human organism results; or (3) introducing pluripotent cells from any source into a human embryo, nonhuman embryo, or artificially manufactured human embryo or trophoblast, under conditions where the introduced

5 cells generate all or most of the body tissues of the developing organism. (d) Pluripotent cells means stem cells possessing the ability to give rise to most or all of the various cell types that make up the body. One demonstration of pluripotency is the ability, even after prolonged existence in culture, to form derivatives of all three embryonic germ layers from the progeny of a single cell. (e) Somatic cell means a cell having a complete set of chromosomes obtained from a living or deceased human body at any stage of development. Section 4. Prohibitions. It shall be unlawful for any person or entity, public or private, to intentionally or knowingly: (a) (b) (c) Perform or attempt to perform human cloning; Participate in an attempt to perform human cloning; Transfer or receive the product of human cloning for any purpose; or (d) Transfer or receive, in whole or in part, any oocyte, embryo, fetus, or human somatic cell for the purpose of human cloning. Section 5. Exceptions. Nothing in this Act shall restrict areas of scientific research not specifically prohibited by this Act including in vitro fertilization; the administration of fertility-enhancing drugs; and research in the use of nuclear transfer or other cloning techniques to produce molecules, DNA, tissues, organs, plants, animals other than humans, or cells other than human embryos. Section 6. Criminal Penalties. (a) Any person or entity that violates Sections 4(a) or 4(b) of this Act shall be guilty of a [Insert appropriate penalty/offense classification]. (b) Any person or entity that violates Sections 4(c) or 4(d) of this Act shall be guilty of a [Insert appropriate penalty/offense classification].

6 Section 7. Civil Penalty. Any person or entity that violates any provision of this Act and derives a pecuniary gain from such violation shall be fined [Insert appropriate amount], twice the amount of gross gain, or, at the discretion of the court, any amount intermediate between the foregoing. Section 8. Professional Sanctions. (a) Unprofessional Conduct. Any violation of this Act shall constitute unprofessional conduct pursuant to [Insert appropriate reference(s) to statutes, regulations, administrative rules, or other authority for both medical doctors and surgeons and osteopathic doctors] and shall result in permanent revocation of the violator s license to practice medicine. (b) Trade, Occupation, or Profession. Any violation of this Act may be the basis for denying an application for, denying an application for the renewal of, or revoking any license, permit, certificate, or any other form of permission required to practice or engage in a trade, occupation, or profession. Section 9. Severability. Any provision of this Act held to be invalid or unenforceable by its terms, or as applied to any person or circumstance, shall be construed so as to give it the maximum effect permitted by law, unless such holding shall be one of utter invalidity or unenforceability, in which event such provision shall be deemed severable herefrom and shall not affect the remainder hereof or the application of such provision to other persons not similarly situated or to other, dissimilar circumstances. Section 10. Right of Intervention The [Legislature], by joint resolution, may appoint one or more of its members who sponsored or co-sponsored this Act, as a matter of right and in his or her official capacity, to intervene to defend this law in any case in which its constitutionality is challenged. Section 11. Effective Date This Act takes effect on [Insert date].

7 STATE OF THE STATES: WHERE ARE WE NOW? LAWS RELATED TO HUMAN CLONING Eight states ban cloning for any purpose, including both cloning-to-produce-children and cloning-for-biomedical-research: AZ, AR, IN, MI, ND, OK, SD, and VA. Ten states allow human cloning for destructive embryo research (cloning-forbiomedical-research), but prohibit attempting to bring a cloned child to term (cloningto-produce-children): CA, CT, IL, IA, MD, MA, MO, MT, NJ, and RI.

8 More detailed information about the need and justification for state bans on human cloning can be found in AUL s annual publication Defending Life. Defending Life 2015 is available online at AUL.org. For further information regarding this or other AUL policy guides, please contact: AMERICANS UNITED FOR LIFE th Street NW, Suite 410 Washington DC Fax Legislation@AUL.org Americans United for Life This policy guide may be copied and distributed freely as long as the content remains unchanged and Americans United for Life is referenced as the creator and owner of this content.