Missouri Passes Constitutional Right to Human Cloning

November 8, 2006, JEFFERSON CITY, MO – On Tuesday, November 7, Missouri voters passed Amendment 2 which creates a constitutional right to clone human beings in Missouri and engage in embryonic stem cell research.

“Missouri voters were deceived by a $30 million dollar campaign into believing that Amendment 2 bans human cloning and offer hope for cures when it does just the opposite,” stated Deacon Larry Weber, Executive Director of the Missouri Catholic Conference.

Deacon Weber pointed out that widely diverse groups came together to try to defeat Amendment 2. “People of various religious and political backgrounds united in their efforts to spread the truth about this deceptive human cloning amendment.” Deacon Weber said. Even though cloning proponents spent $30 million dollars deceiving Missouri voters that the amendment banned human cloning and promoted unspecified cures, support for the amendment dropped sharply over the last four weeks.

“This amendment shows how sharply divided Missouri voters are on this issue with less than 50.7 percent of the voters supporting the amendment,” said Deacon Weber.

Voters were inundated with television, radio and newspaper ads promising cures for illnesses ranging from Parkinson’s disease to juvenile diabetes if human cloning and embryonic stem cell research were enshrined in the state’s constitution. Proponents of Amendment 2 redefined cloning and obfuscated the facts by blurring the distinction between research involving adult stem cells and embryonic stem cells. More than 72 cures or treatments have resulted from adult stem cells while embryonic stem cells have not yielded a single cure or treatment in more than twenty years of research.

Deacon Weber stated that since Amendment 2 is now part of the Missouri constitution it will become very important to prevent unethical researchers from seeking taxpayer dollars for their experiments. “The Missouri Catholic Conference will work diligently to ensure that taxpayer’s dollars will not go to funding this unethical research,” said Deacon Weber.

Since Amendment 2 is a constitutional amendment the legislature will be unable to amend or repeal it. The only option to rescind Amendment 2 is for Missouri voters to approve another constitutional amendment revoking Amendment 2.