COURT OF APPEALS RULES CURES WITHOUT CLONING INITIATIVE IS NOT A REPEAL; CAMPAIGN WILL CONTINUE ON TO 2010

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – The Missouri Cures Without Cloning Initiative Campaign (CWC) won a partial legal victory today when the Missouri Court of Appeals ruled that part of Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s ballot summary was “insufficient and unfair.” In the opinion, Judge Hardwick stated “Upon review of the Plaintiffs’ initiative proposal, we find no language to suggest that it would repeal the ban on human cloning…. The Secretary’s introductory language does not fairly summarize any goal or effect of the initiative proposal and is inadequate to give clear notice of its purpose.”

While this was a big victory for CWC’s efforts to present Missouri voters with a clean vote to ban human cloning in Missouri, we are disappointed the court upheld the unsubstantiated prediction that this amendment would limit patients’ access to stem cell cures and treatments. There is no basis for this assertion. We are evaluating our options regarding appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court and pursuing relief from the Secretary of State for violation of our constitutional rights.

Following is a statement by Lori Buffa, MD, chairwoman of CWC:

“While there is some satisfaction from today’s decision, the deadline to submit the approximately 150,000 signatures necessary to place the measure on the November 2008 ballot is Sunday. Clearly, it has been the intent of Robin Carnahan and those who support human cloning in our state to abuse the initiative process and prohibit us from placing a true ban on human cloning on the ballot. However, justice delayed will not be justice denied. CWC will continue our educational efforts throughout this year and resubmit our initiative in November. Hopefully, by this time next year our vast organization of trained volunteer circulators will be collecting signatures for the 2010 election cycle.

“Missouri Cures Without Cloning is committed to banning human cloning and taxpayer funding of human cloning in Missouri. Our broad coalition continues to build support as we have gained thousands of supporters from all areas of the state. Momentum is on the side of our growing movement as Missourians become aware of the human cloning loophole in our constitution. As we continue to share the truth about human cloning in Missouri, more and more of our fellow citizens will join us in supporting a true ban on human cloning in 2010.”