As Americans

begin in earnest the debate concerning cloning, perhaps the most mind-boggling

scientific development in history, it is more important than ever to revisit

the issue of moral responsibility. Another development in the news this

week casts a striking parallel.

Melissa Drexler

went home Monday. It wasn't as widely reported as it could have been,

what with everything else going on, but the 23-year-old quietly left her

prison cell in New Jersey and was taken by car to her parents' home in

the town of Lacey, where she probably remains in seclusion today. Reporters

camped out at the house, according to a local newspaper, but their efforts

to get comments from anyone in the family were in vain.

Who is Melissa

Drexler, you ask? Well, you may not remember the name, but you've heard

of her. Maybe you know her by her nickname Prom Mom.

That's right.

Now you remember. She was big news a few years ago they even did a "Law

& Order" episode based on her case. In case your memory is sketchy,

here are some of the details.

As an 18-year-old

high school senior, Drexler went to her prom in June of 1997 having concealed

her pregnancy from everyone, including her parents and the child's father.

While at the prom, she went into the bathroom, gave birth to a 6-pound,

6-ounce, live baby boy, wrapped him in garbage bags in the bathroom stall

and threw him away. Then she went