I just got word today that the Secretary of State has approved the ballot title and language for the Cures Without Cloning initiative and it is an absolute disgrace:
Constitutional Amendment to Add Article III, Section 38(e), Relating to Limiting Stem Cell Research, 2008-014
[full text]
Submitted by: Lori Buffa, M.D.Contact Information:
Lori Buffa, M.D.
Cures Without Cloning
P.O. Box 554
Jefferson City, MO 65102Petition sample form approved for circulation on September 17, 2007. Official ballot title certified by Secretary of State on October 10, 2007.
OFFICIAL BALLOT TITLE AS CERTIFIED BY
SECRETARY OF STATEShall the Missouri Constitution be amended to repeal the current ban on human cloning or attempted cloning and to limit Missouri patients’ access to stem cell research, therapies and cures approved by voters in November 2006 by:
* redefining the ban on human cloning or attempted cloning to criminalize and impose civil penalties for some currently allowed research, therapies and cures; and
* prohibiting hospitals or other institutions from using public funds to conduct such research?This proposal could have a significant negative fiscal impact on state and local governmental entities due to its prohibition of certain research activities. However, the total costs to state and local governmental entities are unknown.
Not surprisingly, CWC is fuming:
Curt Mercadante, a spokesman for Cures Without Cloning, said the language “in no way accurately reflects what we’re attempting to do.”
“Quite honestly, it sounds like a talking point out of an opposition group’s playbook,” Mercadante said. “What the amendment is attempting to do is very simple: attempting to prohibit all human cloning in the state of Missouri.”
Mercadante disputed that the group was “repealing” the ban on human cloning written into last year’s amendment.
“We’re not repealing a current ban on human cloning. That’s preposterous,” Mercadante said. “I mean what we’re doing is adding to the current definition of what cloning is. The current constitution bans some cloning. It would extend the definition of what cloning is to ensure that all cloning is banned. And that’s spelled out specifically in the amendment.”
Mercadante said that “all options were on the table” on how to respond to the ballot language, but he didn’t specify what those would be.
I will be in touch with Missouri Right to Life and let you know what I find out from them. This is, to say the very least, a disappointment.
Wesley Smith has more
9 Comments on “Disgraceful Ballot Language Approved”
Should Sen. Carnahan’s office be contacted with complaints about her deceptive phrasing?
Yes, this is EXACTLY what I was concerned about. When I went to the first training meeting every time it was mentioned that Carnahan would be in charge of the wording for the initiative I just groaned and grumbled.
This is why it is so troublesome to have liberals like this in the places they are at.
I know Blunt hasn’t been the perfect Governor but I really hope he is able to beat Nixon because the thought of having Nixon as Governor affecting these kinds of things makes me ill.
Brian, contacting the SOS’s office probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. Though, I don’t think they would listen to anyone.
Dee, unfortunately, Blunt is on the SOS’s side, and is no better than Jay Nixon, regarding this issue. In a meeting with him in 2005 I found out that he doesn’t think that human cloning, because it does not require the use of sperm, creates “human” life, and is therefore not unethical. Not only did he support Amendment 2 last year, as you rightly pointed out in one of your posts recently, but he has been actively supporting the biotech industry and their efforts to conduct cloning/ESC research in our state from the moment he came into office. He opposed a ban on cloning in 2005 (even though he promised to support one during his election campaign), prompting the majority of Republican Senators who co-sponsored the bill to refuse vote for it if it were brought up for a vote, essentially killing the bill (I watched that debate on the Senate floor, it was pathetic, and I was ashamed to be a Republican in Missouri on that day). This is what lead to Amendment 2 in the first place.
We would have been able to control the ballot language on the cloning ban we’re trying to get through today with the approval of Rep. Jim Lembke’s HJR 11 in the House last session, but, largely due to Blunt’s opposition, along with other Republican leaders either on his side, or not willing to go against his wishes, that bill was killed in the Rules committee and not allowed on the House floor (I was there for that, too, and felt the same way I did in 2005 on the Senate floor). Also with Gov. Blunt’s blessing, state funds were given to the biotech industry for life science research (see, The Muddled 2007 Legislative Session, paragraph 3).
It’s not all Blunt’s fault, however. The Republican legislators have protected him and let him get away with this, and that is a shame. I do not trust Matt Blunt since I found out he lied to voters in 2004 and will not support him in 2008.
Looks like there isn’t going to be any primary elections for Governor on the Republican side:
http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/7432
That’s a shame…