Jun. 25, 2006 - Missouri Stem Cell Initiative
An amendment will appear on the Missouri ballot in Nov. purporting to ban human cloning. The wording of this amendment is appallingly deceptive.
The “official summary” that will appear on the ballot will include the words, “No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being.” Sounds great doesn’t it? But what people won’t see are the definitions behind those words.
“’Clone or attempt to clone a human being’ means to implant in a uterus or attempt to implant in a uterus anything other than the product of fertilization of an egg of a human female by a sperm of a human male for the purpose of initiating a pregnancy that could result in the creation of a human fetus, or the birth of a human being.”
It does not prevent cloning—scientists can create clones all they want using the technology of somatic stem cell transfer*—they just can’t allow those cloned human beings to live. Cloning is not defined as the creation of a human being; it is defined as the implantation of an already cloned human being into a uterus. There is a distinction made in the scientific world between “reproductive cloning”—cloning to create a human being—and “therapeutic cloning”—creating an embryo for the purpose of harvesting its stem cells for research in treating various diseases (thus destroying the embryo). But the distinction is really an artificial one. Once the somatic cell is transferred to the egg and tricked to grow, you have produced a new human being. The only question that remains is what to do with it—destroy him or her for the stem cells or implant him or her into a womb.
It is imperative to understand that “therapeutic cloning” does NOT prevent the formation of a human being. It in fact dictates that that human being be destroyed.
This amendment would enshrine in the Missouri constitution the mandated killing of a certain class of human beings, based on the circumstances of their conception. It only bans “reproductive cloning”. It does nothing to ban or limit in any way “therapeutic cloning.”
Many will vote for this amendment, thinking they are voting to outlaw cloning—the creation of clones—while not realizing the true meaning of what the amendment does.
It is misleading at best, and deceptive at its worst. But, the proponents of this amendment know that the overwhelming majority of Missourians are AGAINST human cloning in any form. And by wording this amendment to appear to ban the procedure, they will, in effect, dupe millions of people into voting for exactly the opposite of what they think they are voting for.
I even received a phone call tonight urging me to support the initiative. When I stated I would be voting against it, the caller’s response was, “You know that it will ban human cloning don’t you?”
It is so important to get this information to anyone you know who lives in Missouri. Urge them to vote NO to this amendment. You may not live in MO, but this vote will have ramifications for many states, as they are awaiting the outcome of this proposed constitutional amendment.
To find out more about the Missouri proposed amendment, go to www.NoCloning.org or call 636-536-9877.
*Somatic stem cell transfer (SSTC)– First, the nucleus is removed from a human egg cell. Next the nucleus from a body or somatic cell of the person you want to clone is transferred into the egg. This nucleus contains all 46 human chromosomes. The egg is then stimulated and ‘tricked’ into thinking it has been fertilized. Growth and development begins, and if this tiny human is implanted in a womb, it will continue to grow as if it had been created in the usual way. This new person would be the genetic twin of the person from whom the somatic cell was taken.
Because SSCT is asexual (doesn’t use an egg AND sperm), many pro-life people (including our Mo governor) are coming out in favor of this amendment, claiming that the resulting blastocyst is not human, since no sperm were used in fertilization. But, that single celled organism, if allowed to grow, would produce nothing BUT a human being.
Most of the information herein was taken from materials produced and distributed by Lutherans for Life.
