WASHINGTON -- Protesters weathered a snowstorm and arrests Tuesday to attack, in part, the pro-cloning-for-research stand of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

U.S. Capitol Police arrested about a dozen peaceful protesters who refused to stop blocking a door to the Russell Senate Office Building.

They prayed, chanted and gave speeches there, along with about two dozen other protesters who did not want to be arrested, to attack Hatch and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., for not moving to ban all human cloning. "We're extremely disappointed with Sen. Orrin Hatch," said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, which organized the protest.

"I think the mantle that Sen. Orrin Hatch had as a pro-life champion is gone. Sen. Orrin Hatch is not pro-life on the position that he has taken," Mahoney said.

Hatch says he opposes cloning when it is designed for reproduction. But he has joined such liberals as Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to push to allow exceptions for "therapeutic cloning" for research.

In it, cloning would create a growing human embryo at the earliest stages, but development would be stopped after a few days to extract stem cells or do other research. Hatch and scientists say such research could be the key to finding cures for everything from Alzheimer's disease to diabetes and cancer.

Hatch also supports stopping growth in some embryos fertilized in vitro, which would be otherwise disposed by fertilization clinics, for stem cell research. Hatch has said he believes a fertilized human egg is not alive until implanted into the womb of a mother where it has a chance to grow into a baby.

Protesters disagreed. "Therapeutic cloning is reproductive cloning," Mahoney said. "For Sen. Hatch, I hope and pray the good citizens of Utah . . . welcome Sen. Hatch back as a private citizen the next time he comes up for re-election."

Meanwhile, Mahoney alternatively praised and attacked Frist, who is a surgeon. "We are very happy that Sen. Frist recognizes that therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning are the same animal, they are exactly the same."

But he complained that Frist has said he will put cloning bans on the back burner and take up appropriations and tax cut battles first. Mahoney said protesters chose to block doors to show they feel nothing should happen until the Senate bans cloning.

The protest came a day before the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision that allowed abortion on demand. Pro-life and pro-choice groups are staging numerous events and demonstrations around Washington in observance of it.

Among signs held by protesters Tuesday who were attacking Frist and Hatch were: "Cloning Ends a Human Life," "Embryos Are Human, Too," "Cloning: Conceived to be Killed," and "Life Begins at Conception."

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