After the Catholic Church (see page 13) the Protestant Federation of France has also rejected human cloning, and pressed for its “explicit” prohibition under French law. “Reproductive cloning declares a document issued by the Federation in recent days is a negation of what constitutes the identity, dignity and freedom of each human being”. The document was diffused at the very time that the French Parliament was resuming its discussion of the bill on bioethics and almost simultaneously with a declaration along similar lines by the French bishops. Catholics and Protestants concur in asking Parliament to “definitively prohibit cloning for reproductive purposes”. On the use of embryonal cells, on the other hand, the position of Protestants is divided between those who emphasize “the need for therapeutic solidarity” and those who maintain that the use of embryonal cells is an “exploitation of the embryo”. “Whatever be our ethical decisions and choices says the Protestant Federation life will always remain a mystery. However complex and sophisticated they may be, science and technology will never have the last word”.
