Cloning

Would a human clone have a soul?

Yes. A clone, in theory, would be simply a genetic replica of another individual, no more
different in his/her basic nature than an identical twin. The clone would develop his/her own
unique personality, memories, and mind. Human clones, if they are ever produced, would
merit the same human rights as the rest of us.

In August 2001, Brigitte Boisselier, the director of an organization called Clonaid, announced
that Clonaid intends to perform human cloning. Her announcement made headlines. What
did not make the news so much is the fact that Clonaid is closely associated with a cult
called the Raelians, and that Brigitte Boisselier is a Raelian bishop.

The Raelians desire to not only create human clones, but to develop technology

to transfer their own personalities and memories into the clones, thus achieving

(and this is the way they put it) "eternal life." Another project of the Raelians is

the construction of an embassy for extra-terrestrials. (The leader of the Raelians,

Claude Vorilhon, a.k.a. "Rael," claims that he was given this mission in person by

an alien. He has also claimed that he is the Messiah.)

That sort of cloning and mind-transfer has been done in Captain America comics. But in the
real world, serious scientists discern that the true potential of cloning lies elsewhere.
Cloning could become a means of reproduction for sterile individuals, or for any couple
(including homosexual couples) who could not have a child naturally. But the path to
reproductive cloning is filled with obstacles -- not least of which is the high infant mortality
rate observed among cloned animals, and the high rate of abnormality observed among
cloned animals. It took 277 attempts before Dolly, the famous cloned sheep, was produced.

Responsible scientists currently defer from reproductive human cloning for that reason: the
way to produce a healthy human clone is the same as the way to get to Carnegie Hall:
practice, practice, practice! Who wants to be responsible for a multitude of late abortions
and malformations?

"Fringe" scientists might not mind – especially if they believe they are on a divine mission.
(The Raelian's name for their aliens? "Elohim" – a Hebrew term for "God.") They might
make terrible mistakes that could spark a severe social backlash against any reproductive
cloning.

The other type of cloning is for research purposes. The stealth-jargon for this is "therapeutic
cloning." "Therapeutic" cloning is not very therapeutic for the clone at all. Basically, it is a
matter of creating clones for use in research. They never leave the lab alive.

Those who attempt to justify creating clones in order to kill them in their embryonic state
typically presume that clones are not human beings. In this respect, the ethical questions
overlap the ethical questions that were involved in the harvesting of stem-cells from
embryos: if the embryos' spiritual status is unknown, shouldn't they be given the benefit of
the doubt? Apparently many researchers -- and profit-driven research corporations -- are
willing to say, "No."

That approach invites an interesting hypothetical future scenario. If it is okay to kill a human
embryo on the grounds that embryos are not people, what about killing human beings with
severely underdeveloped brains? I'm talking about anencephalic individuals, whose brains
are malformed to the extent that "higher brain" function is extremely limited. Scientists
could convince themselves that, since personality resides in the brain, anencephalic
individuals are not people.

Imagine: doctors clone a man named Fred -- but the clone is not an exact replica; he is a
quasi-clone, identical to Fred except for one thing: the clone is intentionally engineered to be
anencephalic. As Fred grows up and lives a normal life, the quasi-clone also grows up --
dormant, sustained in a laboratory.

One day, Fred needs a new heart. So doctors go to the lab, extract the quasi-clone's heart
(thus killing the quasi-clone), and transplant it into Fred. Fred doesn't need to wait around
for an organ donor. Nor does Fred need to worry much about his immune system rejecting
the new organ, since its DNA is congruent to his own.

Nifty. Of course, if Fred's anencephalic clone has a soul ~ and the parents of naturally
anencephalic children know that their anencephalic children do ~ then this scenario
involves the murder of an innocent individual. But if the current debate about killing
embryos to harvest their stem cells is any indication, a lot of scientists won't let the risk of
murdering thousands of humans get in the way of serving humanity.