By Tim Waggoner
LANSING, MI, November 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Yesterday, voters in Michigan narrowly passed Proposition 2, which amends the state constitution to expand the ability of researchers to create embryonic stem cells with human embryos from fertility clinics. The proposition stipulates that the embryos must have been scheduled to be discarded and are not more than 14 days old.
Proposition 2 passed by a slim margin of 52 percent to 48 percent.
The battle over the issue was often heated, with supporters from both sides of Proposition 2 campaigning heavily in the weeks before Michigan citizens voted on the issue. According to freep.com, both the Yes and No campaigns each spent some $5 million in the effort to garner the majority vote.
“This is a great night for the state of Michigan,” said Sean Morrison, director of the University of Michigan Center for Stem Cell Biology when it became clear that Proposition 2 would pass. “Clearly the voters saw through the misinformation and fear that the opposition were spreading.
Critics of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research in the state, however, led by Michigan Right to Life and the Michigan Catholic Conference, argued that there is never any valid reason to destroy innocent human life. In a letter on the issue leading up to the vote, Michigan’s Catholic bishops wrote, “Embryonic stem cell research is intrinsically evil and morally unacceptable as it necessitates the willful destruction of the earliest stage of human life.”
Opponents also pointed out that ESC research has an poor track record, with no viable cures to date; attempts at ESC therapies have in the past consistently produced disturbing results, including tumors and immune system rejections.
In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com, a disappointed Dave Doyle, spokesman for MiCAUSE, who hopes that legislators will review the passing of Proposition 2, addressed the many concerns of the controversial proposition:
“We focused on the tax issue,” said Doyle, indicating that Michigan voters will now have to foot the bill for the research, “and the opening of the door to cloning and the issue of regulation and putting this in our state constitution. No other industry has this type of exemption in our state constitution.
“Proposition 2 is a constitutional amendment that puts in the Michigan constitution language that says the legislature will never be able to regulate in any way stem cell research therapies or cures,” he said. “We thought that was inappropriate to put in the constitution. Who knows? Ten years from now or five years from now there may be something that needs to be regulated by the state legislature.”
Attempting to explain why Proposition 2 passed, Doyle said his campaign was financially exhausted in the weeks before November 4; he also pointed to the large turnout of Barack Obama supporters, who tend to be on the more liberal side on social issues.
“Unfortunately what this constitutional amendment means is that any experimentation under federal law that is allowed on human embryos is allowed in Michigan and there are no Federal laws in any way dealing with human embryo research. So the destruction of embryos for stem cell research, the destruction of embryos for any other type of research is now perfectly legal in the State of Michigan,” concluded Doyle.
Opponents of Proposition 2 have promoted adult stem cell research as the superior alternative. Such research has none of the ethical concerns of ESC research, and has already produced cures for spinal cord injuries, heart disease, diabetes and many other diseases as well as having been used in cancer therapies. “This research, which does not involve the destruction of human embryos, must be supported in the public sphere as well as in the medical field, where professionals take an oath to ‘do no harm,’” the Michigan bishops wrote.