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Bishop adds voice to free vote calls on human-animal embryos
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Date
24/03/08
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The Bishop of Lichfield has added his voice to the growing list of people calling for MPs to have a free vote on the controversial Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill which, amongst its provisions, would allow for the creation of part-human part-animal embryos for scientific research. The creation of these so-called “hybrid embryos” is currently banned in most countries across the globe.
The Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill described the proposals as immoral, and called on Labour MPs to be given a free vote. The Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have indicated their MPs will be free to vote with their consciences when the Bill comes before Parliament, but Labour MPs have been told they must support the government or abstain - they are not being allowed to vote against the Bill.
Today, Bishop Jonathan said: “Laws in our country are based on values and principles and most of those are Christian ones. Part of that is to recognise conscience in MPs and that’s the reason why for important moral questions the whips are withdrawn and people are allowed to treat them as a matter of conscience and vote as individuals rather than as a party. It is recognised that no one party has a monopoly on morality.”
He added: “It’s a well-established tradition in our parliament that important moral questions should be debated by MPs without the whip - they should be treated as a matter of conscience. And what could be more important than the treatment of human embryos?
“They are potential human beings and it’s a very important part of our society and a very important part of the Christian faith that you should have respect for human embryos. If you stop obeying God you start to limit the rights of human beings and this is a case in point. A society has to be judged by the way that it treats its poorest and most vulnerable and weakest. And what can be weaker than an unborn child?”
And he said scientists shouldn’t be allowed to do something just because they can: “We don’t have to do everything. Science must have limits. On all sides of this debate we abhor the treatment of patients, for instance, by the Nazis and we have decided not to permit cloning humans. Part of that is that embryos are potential human beings and they should be treated with, at least some, respect as well.”
In a separate interview for today’s Birmingham Post, he called for a wide public debate on the issue before any vote takes place, saying: “We need to hear from ethics committees that have been set up, we need to hear whether it’s something that the public would find acceptable, we need to see why exactly they want to carry out these experiments. I think most people are confused. It may be that if people have a horror of creating human-animal hybrids, they can reassure us.”
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