The Iowa House approved by one vote Thursday night a bill easing restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research involving cloned human beings. The Iowa Senate approved a similar measure last week. Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, is expected to sign the bill.
The governor pressured pro-life Democrats to approve the measure, according to Chuck Hurley, executive director of Iowa Family Policy Center in Pleasant Hill.
“Culver was twisting arms,” Hurley said.
One Democrat whom Hurley said had spoken eloquently on behalf of the preborn flipped his vote in response to intense lobbying and approved the bill.
“Brian Quirk is a long-time pro-life Democrat who said last week he was going to oppose the bill,” said Hurley, who witnessed Thursday’s vote. “We were hanging out for hope, even up to the last vote, but then Quirk’s green light went up [signifying his ‘yes’ vote]. There was literal talk in the lobby afterward that he had sold out thousands of unborn babies for 30 pieces of silver.”
So what does Hurley plan to do next, now that research on human cloning will be legal?
“Get better people elected,” he said. “Clearly, we live in a fallen world, so we can’t let a disappointment or two or 10 obliterate our citizenship responsibilities. What I plan to do personally and organizationally is go into the solid churches and find those who’ve stood the test of time, raised a good family, been a good elder, a good pastor, an overseer. You don’t take questionable alloy and try hammering it into steel and build a bridge. The bridge will collapse. It did last night.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Track further developments on life issues in Iowa by logging on to the Iowa Family Policy Center Web site.
