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Day’s Verse:
There was the true Light, which coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
John 1:9-10
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The issue: Should we allow scientists to produce cloned embryos for the sole purpose of experimenting on them?

The considerations: Such research could very well provide the gateway to discovering cures for a host of currently incurable diseases, both genetic and not. This includes producing rejection-proof cells for patients who need cellular replacement, as well as possible direct genetic therapy when we develop more sophisticated means of genetic manipulation.

The intention behind cloning for biomedical research is good. But can that outweigh the respect due to a human embryo? Indeed, what status should a cloned embryo have, especially if it has no chance of developing to adulthood?

Is an embryo at that stage merely a “clump of cells” to do with as we will, or do we owe it respect as a future human being? How far should that respect extend?

Biomedical research experiments on animals right now. Not lightly, but necessarily. Researchers would use undifferentiated, pre-streak embryos that cannot develop outside of a uterus. At that point, the embryo is not even an individual human being yet: it could still produce an identical twin within this time. Is the case of exprimenting on human embryos less than 14 days old analagous to animal experimentation?