Cures campaign extends target to 2010
- Jun 5, 2008 - comment
Battle to outlaw human cloning in Missouri goes on
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.—All is on hold until 2010 when it comes to the expansion of constitutionally protected human cloning in Missouri or the changing of the current law to reflect a more pro-life view.
Missouri Cures Without Cloning (CWC), the group that Missouri Baptists have been aligned with for the initiative petition drive to close the human cloning loophole in the state constitution, issued a statement saying that the May 2 ruling by a three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, left them no choice but to continue the campaign beyond the May 4 signature gathering deadline for 2008.
The Stowers Institute for Medical Research, which helped propel the passage of Amendment 2 in 2006 that secured protection for embryonic stem cell / human cloning research, was “gratified” by the legal outcome, which amounted to altering only one word of the language put forth by Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. However, Stowers admitted that the 2-1 ruling did not generate enough momentum for the institute to proceed with a major expansion of its facilities in the Kansas City area.
Both sides are in limbo. A 2010 vote is the next step.
“I would rather be a part of a winning campaign in 2010 than to rush into a campaign in 2008 that we can’t win,” said MBC Interim Executive Director David Tolliver.
MBC Christian Life Commission Chairman Phil Gloyer, a layman from Forest Park Baptist Church in Joplin, pointed out that the court essentially reinstated Carnahan’s language that had been rewritten by Cole County Circuit Court Judge Patricia Joyce except for one word—removing “repeal” and inserting “change.” In the complicated world of often-confusing legalese, that amounts to a small victory in that the terminology of the CWC initiative is being built on change, not repeal. And that is a step toward the “close the human cloning loophole” message preferred by CWC.
“The court did not help us any more than they absolutely had to,” Gloyer said. “There is a short dissent at the end from one of the three judges who argued that ‘the trial court (judge) was justified in drafting her own summary in her effort to improve sufficiency and fairness.”
Indeed, Jaci Winship of CWC rightly concluded that the ruling did render the Carnahan ballot summary “insufficient and unfair.” Winship quoted from the opinion which held that Carnahan’s “introductory language does not fairly summarize any goal or effect of the initiative proposal and is inadequate to give clear notice of its purpose.”
The use of “repeal” plays into the hands of therapeutic cloning proponents like the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, according to CWC strategists who have been studying the impact of words in polls. Having “repeal” in the initiative petition’s ballot summary instead of “change” would have been preferred by Stowers and other backers of the controversial scientific method because voters, as a general rule, do not like to overturn things they have already voted in as law. Using “repeal” would work better to achieve an ultimate goal of unfettered scientific research in Missouri that would totally disregard the right of the human embryo to live.
Carnahan is bent this way. She is for embryonic stem cell research, and she once took a $25,000 campaign contribution from a group promoting therapeutic cloning. Even liberal newspaper columnists in the state, who generally support politicians like Carnahan, have been trying to hold her accountable on her choice of the word “repeal.” One who writes columns for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch scolded her for using it, writing, “That’s confusing. It would expand the ban.” The appeals court agreed.
It took a long time for the courts to render a decision, and in the end CWC was facing the prospect of having only two days to collect signatures. Rightly concluding that their petition gatherers could not obtain the approximately 150,000 signatures needed to place the measure on the November ballot, the cures leaders have shifted the focus on 2010.
“Clearly, it has been the intent of Robin Carnahan and those who support human cloning in our state to abuse the initiative process and prohibit us from placing a true ban on human cloning on the ballot,” said Cures Chairwoman Lori Buffa. “However, justice delayed will not be justice denied. We will continue our educational efforts throughout this year and resubmit our initiative in November.”
This article is reprinted from he May 20, 2008, issue of The Pathway, the newspaper of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
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