When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be (Ps 139:14-16).

For two years a working group shaping a U.N. treaty to ban human embryo cloning has heard debate from pro-life and pro-cloning nations and non-government organizations (NGOs). With no consensus, they will vote to decide their committee's recommendation next week.

• Pro-cloning nations have lobbied the committee to permit "therapeutic cloning" of human embryos for experimentations that could lead to cures for disease. They have not pushed for "reproductive cloning" intended to produce a child carried to birth.
  
• Pro-lifers contend that cloning human beings for experimentation and subsequent murder is an immoral, intolerable violation of human dignity and that a partial ban cannot be enforced.
  
• Scores of pro-life nations, with strong support from the Bush Administration and American NGOs, brilliantly and persuasively conveyed their message. The "Costa Rica plan," calling for a total ban on human cloning, is supported by more than 50 nations active in the debate (see www.cwfa.org/articles/4694/CWA/life/index.htm ).
  
• Only 20, mostly European nations, support the pro-cloning "Belgian plan" that allows for "therapeutic" cloning. Great Britain and Singapore led the cloning proponents with France and Germany working in the background despite the fact that human cloning is wholly illegal in Germany (see http://bigjweb.com/artman/publish/article_1361.shtml ).
  
• Experts say momentum is on the pro-life side, but that pro-cloning groups are using cunning, last minute, behind-the-scene tactics to advance their cause. The prayers of God's people will stop them and move the pro-life plan forward. A ban must be in place before renegade scientists announce the birth of a cloned child, a threshold from which retreat may be impossible. Two days of debate are scheduled October 20th and 21st, after which a vote will be taken.
  
  Please Join Us in Overcoming Prayer:
  
• Father, Thank You that so many nations hold a firm PRO-LIFE CONVICTION. Thank You, too, for our nation's pro-life leadership. INTERVENE now!
  
• Lord of Life! SUBDUE those who advocate the cloning of human beings! DEFEAT their schemes. May this Committee recommend a Total Ban on Human Cloning. Then CAUSE the U.N & the Nations to embrace it wholeheartedly and quickly. In Jesus' Name, Amen (Ex 21:22-25; Dt 30:19; Ps 10:17-18; 66:7; 82:all).