Last year, Missourians narrowly voted to amend the state constitution to give researchers a blank check — using taxpayer dollars — to conduct destructive embryonic stem-cell research and human cloning experiments.
"The deceptively worded amendment was designed to trick Missourians into enshrining a right to human cloning — often called somatic cell nuclear transfer — into the state constitution," said Dawn Vargo, associate bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action.
Now media reports claim the movement has stalled. Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City warned last week that the future expansion of its massive facility is at risk.
Susan Klein of Missouri Right to Life isn't so sure.
"Buying 100 acres in the Kansas City metro area would look like they are still on track," she said about Stowers. "We're trying to make them explain themselves, rather than accept that they are stalled."
Klein and other family advocates are looking at their options, and an initiative petition that would allow voters to ban human cloning is high on their list.
"We know the general public wants to truly ban all human cloning," she said. "And, we want to give them that opportunity as quickly as possible. The 2008 ballot would be ideal."
Klein said she "absolutely" supports adult stem-cell research.
"I think stem-cell research is extraordinarily promising and exciting and that we ought to move forward on it," Republican Sen. Matt Bartle told The Associated Press. "But Missouri does not need to clone human embryos in order to become a leader in life sciences."
"The passage of Missouri's pro-cloning amendment last year," Vargo said, "has really served as a springboard for the pro-life community there to take a strong stance against this research. Missouri can be a leader in promising ethical research and cures for patients — without creating and destroying embryos in the process."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit the Focus on Social Issues Web site and VoteNoCloning.org.
