By a wide majority, the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to ban human cloning. Clearly, the idea of reproducing human beings by artificial means is repugnant across the political spectrum.

An attempt to make an exception for the cloning of embryos to be used in medical research also was soundly rejected. Instead, key legislators urged scientists to rely on adult stem cells for their medical studies.

At stake in this argument is when an embryo becomes a human being.

For now, at least, most U.S. representatives believe that human dimension is achieved at conception. And even cloned embryos would be fully human.

Good for them.