Culture & Cosmos
Volume 3, Number 28 | February 15, 2006
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Dear Colleague, Missouri voters are being fooled about human cloning. They will vote this fall on a Constitutional change that would allow for human experimental cloning. But the amendment's supporters are claiming in the language of the amendment that cloning only happens at implantation. Of course, this is not true. Missouri voters are urged to defeat this measure. Spread the word. Yours sincerely, Austin Ruse President Action item: Missouri citizens are encouraged to ask Sen. Jim Talent to publicly declare his opposition to the proposed amendment. Click here for contact information. |
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Proposed Missouri Cloning "Ban" Would
Allow for Human Experimental Cloning
Missouri voters
will soon get to vote on a Constitutional amendment that will allow for
human cloning for the purposes of experimentation and death of the embryo.
Drafters of the proposed amendment, however, have crafted language that may
fool some voters into thinking they are voting for a total ban on human
cloning.
By Mark Adams
The trick of the proposed language is that it would define cloning as only those embryos created through the cloning process that are actually implanted into a woman's uterus. Supporters of the proposed amendment would allow for the cloning of human embryos if they are killed before implantation. The amendment explicitly allows for somatic cell nuclear transfer a process where the nucleus of a human egg is replaced with the nucleus from the cell of a fully developed adult resulting in the creation of a human embryo. According to the amendment's definition of human cloning, a human embryo can be created through somatic cell nuclear transfer as long it is not implanted in a woman. In the past supporters of cloning have referred to somatic cell nuclear transfer as "therapeutic cloning" to distinguish it from "reproductive cloning" in which the cloned embryo is allowed to be born. The latest rhetorical shift may indicate that even the term "therapeutic cloning" is viewed negatively by the wider public. The amendment's language was challenged in court by cloning opponents including the Missouri Catholic Conference and the Missouri Baptist Convention. Cole County Senior Judge Byron Kinder ruled against them saying the language was fair. The proposed amendment has drawn national attention because it has the support of some well known and self-described "pro-life" Republicans and also because a prominent supporter of a national ban on cloning announced last week that he is withdrawing his support for the ban. Missouri Republican Senator Jim Talent took his name off a list of co-sponsors of Sen. Sam Brownback's bill banning all cloning. Political observers say Talent, who faces a serious reelection challenge in November, fears his support for the cloning ban will be used by his opponents to portray him as opposed to life-saving research. One of the most prominent supporters of the amendment is Missouri's Republican Governor Matt Blunt, son of US Representative Roy Blunt who was just defeated in his attempt to become Majority Leader of the US House. The amendment is also supported by former Missouri Senator John Danforth. According a column by Robert Novak, "the billion-dollar endowed Stowers Institute in Kansas City, headed by Republican contributors, has threatened to move to Los Angeles if the constitutional amendment is not passed." The amendment is expected to be on the ballot in November where a simple majority could make it law. |
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Culture of Life Foundation 1413 K Street, NW, Suite 1000 Washington DC 20005 Phone: (202) 289-2500 Fax: (202) 289-2502 E-mail: clf@culture-of-life.org Website: http://www.culture-of-life.org |