Attack on early human life condemned by pro-life campaigners

Westminster, 22 September 2003--Pro-life campaigners reacted today against a statement by Lord May, speaking on behalf of the Inter Academy Panel, calling for only a limited restriction on human cloning. Such a restriction would be designed to permit cloning for research purposes.

Anthony Ozimic, political secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), stated: "It is clear that certain promoters of destructive embryo research are using the consensus against cloning for childbirth as a cloak of respectability for their real agenda of securing an international law requiring all countries to allow cloning for research. The Inter Academy Panel's statement does not call for a permanent ban on cloning for childbirth but says that the ban 'should be reviewed periodically in the light of scientific and social developments.' The use of embryonic stem cells in research is yet another demeaning assault on early human life."