Chris Murphy: “I rise in support of this act today. I do so because to me the bill before us is relatively simple. This is a…”

“I rise in support of this act today. I do so because to me the bill before us is relatively simple. This is a straightforward ban on human reproductive cloning, taking material through somatic cell nuclear transfer and turning that material into a living, breathing human being. As Representative DeGette said, nothing more, nothing less. Under this law, if someone uses cloning technology to initiate a pregnancy and creates a cloned human being, they would face severe criminal and civil sanctions. This legislation is something that the vast majority of the American public supports, and it is something that all Members of Congress I think should support as well. In Connecticut, as part of our State's historic Stem Cell Investment Act, which I was very honored to have authored, we recognize that human being reproductive cloning is a practice that perverts the promise of science; and we banned it outright in our legislation. In fact, I think it is pretty amazing that we are standing here having this debate today, that the Federal Government has, until today, not stepped forward and said that human reproductive cloning, bringing that material to the stage of a human being created from that material, is illegal.”