About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

32 U. Tol. L. Rev. 367 (2000-2001)
The Image of God, the Eggs of Women, and Therapeutic Cloning

handle is hein.journals/utol32 and id is 377 raw text is: THE IMAGE OF GOD, THE EGGS OF WOMEN, AND THERAPEUTIC CLONING* Cynthia B. Cohen* INTRODUCTION T HE current controversy over whether human cloning should be pursued in the United States has caught those in ethics and public policy unprepared. The subject has not received serious attention since the 1970s when it was the subject of public debate between Nobel Laureate, Joshua Lederberg' and two well-known theologians, Paul Ramsey' and Joseph Fletcher? After the birth of the first test tube baby in 1978, in vitro fertilization became the topic of the day and concern about cloning, a procedure which then seemed highly unlikely, faded into obscurity. Indeed, it received only passing mention in a footnote in the 1982 report of the President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research When cloning reemerged at the end of the twentieth century with an embryo splitting experiment at George Washington University' and the birth of a lamb cloned through nuclear transplantation in Scotland,6 human cloning suddenly seemed closer to reality. Significant questions arose as to whether the creation of embryos by cloning would involve a violation of principles and values at the foundation of our social ethic. Would cloning be contrary to what John Rawls has called public reason, or the body of common sense beliefs and ways of reasoning, as well as the uncontroversial scientific conclusions that inform public policy?7 The primary ethical reflections about this subject to which ethicists and those in public policy could turn was that expressed by Ramsey and Fletcher in the 1970s. *Edited and reprinted with permission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, (9200 1. * Senior Research Fellow, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.; B.A., Barnard College (1956), Ph.D., Columbia University (1970), J.D., University of Michigan Law School (1985). 1. See Joshua Lederberg, Experimental Genetics and Human Evolution, 22 BULL. ATOMIC SCIENTIST, Oct. 1966, at 4-11. 2. See PAuL RAMSEY, FABRICATED MAN: THE ETHics OF GENETIC CONTROL (1970). See also Paul Ramsey, Shall We Reproduce I: The Medical Ethics of In Vitro Fertilization, 220 JAMA 1346, 1346-50 (1970); Paul Ramsey, Shall We Reproduce II: Rejoinders and Future Forecast, 220 JAMA 1480, 1480-85 (1970). 3. See Joseph Fletcher, EthicalAspects of Genetic Controls, 285 NEw ENG. 3. MED. 776, 776-83 (1971). See also Joseph Fletcher, New Beginnings in Life: A Theologian's Response, in THE NEW GENETICS AND THE FUTURE MAN 78-89 (Michael Hamilton ed., 1972). See generally JOSEPH FLETCHER, TaE EThics OF GENETIC CONTROL (1974). 4. PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION FOR THE STUDY OF ETHICAL PROBLEMS IN MEDICINE AND BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIoRAL RESEARCH, SPLICING LIFE: THE SOCIAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES OF GENETIC ENGINEERING WITH HUMAN BEINGS 9 n.6 (U.S. Government Printing Office 1982). 5. See Cynthia B. Cohen, Future Directionsfor Human Cloning by Embryo Splitting: After the Hullabaloo, 4 KENNEDY INST. ETHICS J. 187, 187 -92 (1994). 6. See Ian Wilmut, Dolly's False Legacy, TIME, Jan. 11, 1999, at 74. 7. See JOHN RAWLS, POLITICAL LIBERALISM 212-54 (1993).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most