LIFE DIGEST: Mo. official again misleads on cloning, pro-lifers say
- Oct 22, 2007 - comment
The Missouri Secretary of State is playing tricks with an election again, pro-life advocates are saying.
Pro-lifers contend Robin Carnahan has provided deceptive ballot language for a potential constitutional amendment that would ban the cloning of human embryos. The language, as it will appear on a 2008 ballot if a petition drive gains enough signatures, says the proposed amendment will “repeal the current ban on human cloning or attempted cloning.”
That is just not true, amendment supporters say. The proposal would not rescind a ban on cloning to bring a baby to birth but would expand the prohibition to include cloning to produce an embryo for stem cell research, they point out.
Amendment 2, which barely passed in a 2006 statewide vote, permits cloning embryos for experimentation. The extraction of stem cells from any embryo, cloned or not, destroys the tiny human being.
“This is sheer propaganda, and it’s not even subtle,” said Cathy Ruse of the Family Research Council in a commentary for National Review Online. “Missourians deserve better than this.”
Cures Without Cloning (CWC), the organization backing the proposed amendment, may go to court over the language, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Obviously we have some concerns about it. That’s putting it mildly,” said CWC spokesman Curt Mercadante, the newspaper reported.
Opponents of Amendment 2, which protected embryonic stem cell research, said Carnahan’s summary for that proposal in 2006 also was misleading.
“She played this same game last year,” Ruse said. “The ballot language she issued for Amendment 2 said the measure would ban human cloning. This ignored the fact that the fine print created a constitutional right to do somatic cell nuclear transfer, which is the scientific name for cloning and is the same procedure used to clone Dolly the sheep.”
The Oct. 10 release of the ballot language means supporters of the proposed amendment may circulate petitions to place it on next year’s ballot.
The Missouri Baptist Convention is encouraging pastors and members of its churches to take part, according to The Pathway, the MBC’s newspaper. The convention contributed $100,000 to last year’s effort to defeat Amendment 2.
“I’m very proud of the Baptist involvement in the Cures Without Cloning coalition,” said Rodney Albert, chairman of the MBC’s Christian Life Commission and pastor of Hallsville Baptist Church, according to The Pathway. “It’s simply an extension of that strong Baptist ethic – life is sacred. These folks are showing that.”
NIH director departs from Bush
Elias Zerhouni, the National Institutes of Health director by virtue of his appointment by President Bush, has again indicated he does not agree with the man who chose him when it comes to destructive stem cell research.
In a new magazine article, Zerhouni said the President’s ban on federal funding of stem cell research that destroys embryos should be rescinded, according to The Washington Post.
“All avenues of research need to be pursued,” Zerhouni wrote in Medline Plus, a journal co-published by NIH. “We must continue the research at all levels, or there will be no progress.”
Zerhouni also had disagreed with Bush on the policy in March, when he told a congressional panel the ban should be lifted, The Post reported Oct. 17.
Bush “has to draw the line in a different place than Dr. Zerhouni” – from a “broader view” than that of a researcher, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said, according to The Post. The President’s policy considers “moral and religious views,” Fratto said.
Post-abortion women applaud House vote
Leaders of a network of women and men impacted negatively by abortion have commended a House of Representatives vote calling for federal agencies to study the psychological effects of the procedure.
The House passed an amendment Oct. 15 urging research into the consequences for post-abortion women, as well as men whose children are aborted. Rep. Joseph Pitts, R.-Pa., sponsored the amendment to legislation that called for expanded study of post-partum depression. Though the measure is nonbinding, Silent No More still welcomed the action.
“To emphasize the problems of giving birth and remain silent about the problems associated with abortion is to give the false impression that there are only harmful psychological consequences if you give birth,” said Georgette Forney, a Silent No. More co-founder, in a written release. “While the amendment doesn’t guarantee that the government will study post-abortion disorders, it at least reminds researchers that women are suffering serious problems associated with abortion that need attention.”
Further Learning
Learn more about: Life, Abortion, Cloning, Stem-Cell Research, Science, Bioethics