There is a report late Thursday that a Canadian-based group will announce one of its members has given birth to the first human clone. The group has scheduled a news conference for Friday to offer details on the claim.

The Raelians, a religious cult based in Quebec, announced on Dec. 18 that the baby was expected to be born in the next 14 days.

A French news agency said the baby girl was born by caesarean section.

Brigitte Boisselier told AFP news agency that the birth went "very well."

The Raelians, who advocate the cloning of humans, created a company called Clonaid in 1997. The company's web site says its "main goal is to give life to the first human clone."

Boisselier, a biochemist and director of Clonaid, has said that this is the first of five babies the Raelians are expecting.

The company's claim is that the girl is the genetic duplicate -- or clone -- of the mother, a woman in her 30s.

CTV's Avis Favaro is in Hollywood, Fla. to cover Friday's news conference on the birth. Favaro said Clonaid has given the rights to film the birth to an American film production company. It will be allowed to do the blood testing -- the DNA fingerprinting -- to see if this child really is a clone.

A Clonaid spokesperson said video and testing equipment will be present at Friday's news conference.

Scientists say human cloning by a private company is an unlikely achievement but it's not impossible.

"It has been possible after many attempts to clone other mammalian species," said Prof. Lawrence Smith of the University of Montreal. "There's no reason to think that human beings would be any different than other animals."

To make a clone, scientists take DNA from an adult cell and inject it into a hollowed-out egg from a young woman donor. The egg is then subjected to a jolt of electricity that begins the formation of an embryo.

At least one doctor says Clonaid's claims are all the more plausible because they have a number of young women followers who are willing egg donors.

Other experts say that even if cloning were possible, the babies would likely be born with defects. Cloning research has produced many deformed and dead animals. The first mammal to be cloned -- in 1997 -- was a sheep named Dolly, who later developed arthritis at an abnormally young age.

The Raelians, who claim 55,000 members worldwide, believe human life was created by DNA brought to earth by an alien race. Their founder and leader is Rael, a former French journalist known as Claude Vorilhon.

The group's headquarters, called UFO Land, are located in Valcourt, Que., about 200 km east of Montreal.