George vs. Kmiec

Robert P. George and Doug Kmiec spar over email on the question: Does President Obama's executive order on embryonic stem cell research allow federally funded human cloning? - George in the affirmative; Kmiec disagrees. The debate hinges on President Obama's statement that he opposed "reproductive cloning. According to George, this is meant as a loophole:

A ban on "reproductive cloning" is a ban on implanting a human embryo produced by cloning and permitting the embryonic human to develop into infancy. That is why pro-life critics of the ban on "reproductive cloning," including the Pro-Life Secretariat of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, refer to the legislation proposing the ban as the "clone and kill bill." That description is literally true. The bill forbids not the practice of somatic cell nuclear transfer or any other cloning technique, but allowing the cloned human being to survive. ...

What President Obama supports and has now opened the door to funding is human cloning—somatic cell nuclear transfer to create human embryos. What he opposes is permitting human embryos to be implanted if they were created by somatic cell nuclear transfer.