Church In Mexico To Ask Congress To Outlaw Cloning

Mexico City, Mexico, Oct 21, 2003 / 22:00 pm

The director of Ministry for the Sick of the Archdiocese of Mexico City, Father Jorge Palencia, announced he will petition members of the Mexican congress to outlaw cloning in the country.

Palencia explained the legislators sometimes face intense pressure from the scientific community to talk about therapeutic or reproductive cloning without allowing equal time for those opposed to the practice.

The National Pro-Life Committee also called on the government of President Vicente Fox to change the "shameful" position of Mexico at UN gatherings, in which it has not expressed opposition to the discussions on the approval of embryonic human cloning, which will be up for vote next Monday.

The President of the Committee, Rocío Gálvez, also requested that Mexico's position at the United Nations be consistent with national law concerning the illicit use of human organs, tissues, cells and corpses, including embryos and fetuses. 

While participating in a Youth Congress organized by the Pro-Life Committee and titled, "Cloning: baby machines," Father Palencia emphasized, "More attention should be paid to what our society thinks about the defense of human life.  The majority of Mexicans defend the right-to-life of the embryo from the moment of conception."

He also proposed seven strategies which should be followed: Insist on open dialogue with heath officials and NGO's; build bridges between science and bio-ethics; insists "with our own life" what it means to respect the human embryo; work for the full disclosure concerning the human genome project and assisted reproduction; proclaim the justice of the Kingdom of God for those who have no voice, especially the unborn; and fight for the rights of the embryo.