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Missourians Approve Ballot Initiative to Finance Stem-Cell Research and Human Cloning

By Peter J. Smith

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri, August 9, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Missouri’s secretary of state has certified a ballot initiative to amend the state’s constitution to shield federally funded stem cell research from pro-life legislation forbidding embryonic research or therapeutic human cloning.

The Stem Cell Initiative will be listed as Amendment 2 on the ballot for November, and will see a fierce battle between opponents and advocates of stem cell research, the latter who are doggedly intent on making a ban on embryonic stem-cell research impossible in Missouri. Many opponents believe the battle will hinge on whether Missourians believe the dignity of an embryo is worth protecting from destructive research or experiments such as human cloning.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, over 90,000 Missouri voters have received pamphlets entitled "Women's voices against cloning" warning that the research supported in the initiative will potentially hurt women lured financially into donating their eggs. The brochures were compiled by Focus on the Family, and are being distributed across the state by opponents of Amendment 2.

The pamphlet urges voters to stand up against "scientific violence," and recounts the deaths of five women who suffered complications after egg extraction for in vitro fertilization, warning that women would undergo the same method to harvest their eggs for stem-cell research.

The pamphlets remind Missourians that "women's bodies are not biological objects for scientific use,” and lists the names of radical feminist groups who are on the record against the human cloning technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT).

SCNT extracts the DNA out of an unfertilized egg replacing it with complete adult DNA, creating a human embryo known as a blastocyst, which is encouraged to undergo cellular growth by experiencing an electric shock. Pro-life leaders argue against SCNT since it deliberately creates a human being for the express purpose of destroying it for its stem cells.

SCNT it one of the procedures that would be protected if Amendment 2 passes in November.

The success of the putting the Stem Cell Initiative on the November ballot has bolstered the enthusiasm of embryonic stem-cell research supporters, who have put together a powerful coalition in order to defeat any threats to embryonic research in Missouri.
 
"We're extremely pleased that Missourians will be able to decide for themselves if they want to protect their right to access the same stem cell research and cures as other Americans," said Donn Rubin, Chairman of Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures in a press release. "Some politicians in Jefferson City have repeatedly tried to take away that right, by proposing legislation that would ban and criminalize promising types of stem cell research and cures in Missouri. The Stem Cell Initiative will prevent any such unfair bans. It will protect the right of Missourians to have access to any stem cell research and cures that are allowed in our country and available to other Americans."

The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, which is pushing the amendment, claims an impressive array of backers, including 60,000 Missouri citizens, 2000 medical doctors, the Missouri State Medical Association, St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society, Mound City Medical Forum, Heartland Health, American Diabetes Association, Lance Armstrong Foundation, Christopher Reeve Foundation, National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, National Parkinson Foundation, Society for Women's Health Research, Sickle Cell Disease Association of Kansas City, Buchanan County Medical Society, Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Washington University in St. Louis and Washington University School of Medicine.

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