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

13 Notre Dame J.L. Ethics & Pub. Pol'y 15 (1999)
Cloning and Positive Liberty

handle is hein.journals/ndlep13 and id is 21 raw text is: ARTICLES CLONING AND POSITIVE LIBERTY M. CATHLEEN KAvENY* INTRODUCTION In February 1996, Scottish scientist Ian Walmut introduced the world to Dolly, a female sheep whose placid visage revealed absolutely no trace of her unique status as the world's first mam- malian clone. The sudden revelation of Dolly's existence dis- quieted ordinary citizens and policy makers alike; if scientists can clone sheep, most people believed, they will soon be able to clone human beings. A virtually unanimous consensus quickly formed that any effort to produce a human child through the process of somatic cell nuclear transfer was not only wrong, but repulsive. Transfixed by nightmarish images from Brave New World1 or The Boys from Brazil,2 the American public called upon lawmakers to put a halt to the inexorable march of scientific progress in the area of human cloning. Responding to this out- cry, President Clinton issued an immediate moratorium on the use of federal funds to support attempts to produce a child through somatic cell nuclear transfer, and gave the National Bioethics Advisory Commission three months to submit a report on the ethical and legal ramifications of human cloning. Surprisingly, by the time the Commission issued the Report in June 1996,' the groundswell of public sentiment against human cloning had largely dissipated. The implications of Wil- mut's discovery were quickly superceded on the editorial pages by other events. The consensus that human cloning could never * Associate Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame. This is a revised version of a lecture that Professor Kaveny gave at a conference on cloning and the law, sponsored by the Notre Dame Alumni Association, in Washington, D.C. in November of 1998. 1. ALDOUS HuxLEY, BRAVE NEW WORLD (1932). 2. THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL (ITC Films 1978). 3. See NATIONAL BIOETHICS ADVISORY COMMISSION, CLONING HuMAN BEINGS: REPORT & RECOMMENDATIONS (June 1997) [hereinafter CLONING REPORT].

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