Who's Afraid of Human Cloning?

by Pence, Gregory E.

• ISBN13: 9780847687824
• ISBN10: 0847687821
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-02-01
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc

Summary

Gregory Pence offers a candid look at the arguments for and against human cloning.

Author Biography

Gregory E. Pence is professor of philosophy in the Schools of Medicine and Arts/Humanities at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Poem: Mary Had a Little Lamb	p. xv
From Dolly to Humans?	p. 1
Dolly's Importance and Promise	p. 9
What Ian Wilmut Did and Why It Was Important	p. 9
Background on Cloning	p. 11
What Cloning Can and Cannot Physically Reproduce	p. 13
The New Genetic Age	p. 15
Genetic Contributions of the Host Egg	p. 17
The Mistake of Genetic Determinism	p. 21
The False Seers of Assisted Human Reproduction	p. 25
Beware False Prophets of Doom	p. 25
Clone Furor: First Wave	p. 29
Clone Furor: Second Wave	p. 30
Clone Furor: Third Wave	p. 31
The National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC)	p. 34
Misconceptions	p. 39
Our Legacy from Science Fiction	p. 39
Making Women Visible	p. 44
They Would Be People	p. 45
You Can't Reproduce Yourself	p. 49
Lack of Informed Consent Doesn't Matter	p. 52
Scientists Aren't Frankensteins and Strangeloves	p. 52
Reproductive Freedom Doesn't Lead to Coercive State Eugenics	p. 56
Four Questions about Ethics	p. 59
Case #1--Sarah and Abe Shapiro	p. 59
Does the Rule Intrude Too Much on Personal Liberty?	p. 61
What Is the Point of the Moral Rule?	p. 62
Why Assume the Worst Motives?	p. 64
Why Fear Slippery Slopes?	p. 66
Cloning and Sex	p. 73
Making Babies without Sex: Morally Repugnant?	p. 74
Plain Sex	p. 78
Meilaender's Testimony	p. 79
Twinning Human Embryos	p. 85
Overview of the Embryo Controversy	p. 85
Why Embryos Are Not Persons	p. 87
Controversies about Embryos	p. 89
The Futility of the Human Embryo Research Panel	p. 89
Embryo Research Today: The Craziness of the Hughes Incident	p. 91
The Importance of Wilmut's Discoveries for Understanding Humans	p. 95
New Calls for Banning Research on Embryos	p. 95
What Is Lost in Research	p. 96
Recommendations of NBAC	p. 97
Arguments for Allowing Human Asexual Reproduction	p. 99
Case #2--John and Elsie Kennedy	p. 99
Personal Liberty and the Right to Self-Reproduce	p. 100
Benefit to Children--Improving Genetic Inheritance	p. 101
Case #3--Richard Dunaway	p. 102
Case #4--Robert Atworthy	p. 104
Benefit to Children--Genetic Therapy/Correcting Genetic Disease	p. 105
Aiding Infertile Couples	p. 106
Valuing the Genetic Connection	p. 108
Generalizing the Genetic Connection	p. 110
Rawls' Argument	p. 112
Children for Gay Men and Lesbians	p. 114
Arguments against Human Asexual Reproduction	p. 119
Against the Will of God	p. 119
Fear of the New and Different	p. 122
Genetic Diversity and Evolution	p. 129
Risk of Harm to the Child	p. 131
A Point about Control	p. 140
Increasing Prejudice against the Disabled	p. 141
Fostering Sexism	p. 142
Class Injustice	p. 143
The Slippery Slope	p. 144
Nature versus Nurture	p. 146
Regulating Human Cloning	p. 151
The John Moore Case	p. 151
The Case against Regulation of NST	p. 152
The Case for Regulation	p. 154
The Issue of Multiples	p. 158
Against Commercialization of NST	p. 159
Conclusions	p. 163
The Quality of the Arguments in the NST Debate	p. 163
The Unreality of the Human Embryo Debate	p. 164
What Might a Good Religious Objection to NST Look Like?	p. 165
Improving Humanity	p. 167
Alternative Pasts and Social Control	p. 170
Beneficent Multiples	p. 172
A Final Prediction	p. 174
Index	p. 177
About the Author	p. 183
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