OVER THE LAST decade, the federal government has taken an active role in the public debate over human cloning and stem cell research. Despite repeated attempts by the U.S. Congress to ban human cloning, all such efforts have failed, leaving cloning still legal in the United States. As far as embryonic stem cell research is concerned, the issue is not whether to permit such research (there are currently no prohibitions on private organizations from engaging in cloning research) but, rather, whether or not to allocate federal taxpayer dollars for these purposes.

Congress first placed restrictions on federal funding in 1995, and then in 2001, President Bush announced that he would permit federal funding of research on cell lines that were available before his announcement, but prohibit ...