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CWA Signs Biotechnology Manifesto 2/5/2003 Ultimately, it is the most vulnerable who will be used to benefit the powerful. Washington, D.C. – Today Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America (CWA), asked members of Congress to consider the dangers of cloning, not only on potential children, but on women as well. Rios joined a coalition of leaders in signing "The Sanctity of Life in a Brave New World: A Manifesto on Biotechnology and Human Dignity," a document that outlines a basic moral framework for decision making in this emerging field.
“We know that Congress has the duty, and we believe Congress has the will to regulate biotechnology so that the industry will not be permitted to sacrifice one life for the convenience or well-being of another,” said Rios. “We desperately need a moral compass to direct our exploration of biotechnology.
“As the leader of the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization, I am particularly concerned with the burdens of cloning that women will be forced to bear. Cloning requires enormous amounts of eggs to be harvested from women. Further, the method of cultivating these eggs poses life-threatening risks. Even the language used to describe the process shows that science views women more as a crop in a farmer’s field than as human beings endowed with inalienable rights.
“Today, legislation to allow cloning for the purpose of harvesting valuable parts is to be introduced in the Senate. Already a quarter of my 22-year-old son’s generation has been aborted. What will I tell my grandchildren when they ask about the members of their generation who were created in a petri dish just to be destroyed?
“For the sake of humanity, science must be reined in by ethics and by law. Scientists must not be allowed to exploit desperate patients with unrealistic and unfounded promises to promote their dangerous experiments. Ultimately, it is the most vulnerable – women and children – who will be used to benefit the powerful, the wealthy, the more politically connected. It should not be so!”
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Concerned Women for America 1015 Fifteenth St. N.W., Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20005 Phone: (202) 488-7000 Fax: (202) 488-0806 |
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