Missouri Bishops File Appeal in Stem Cell Ballot Title Case

January 27, 2006, JEFFERSON CITY, MO – On Jan. 27, 2006, the Catholic bishops of Missouri appealed a judgment by a Cole County Circuit Court judge that a ballot title to a stem cell research initiative was sufficient and fair. In their appeal, the bishops claimed that the official ballot title “misleads and deceives the voters of the state of Missouri.”

The ballot title, which is the only information on the proposal voters will see upon entering the voting booth, includes a statement that the proposal bans human cloning.

But the full text of the proposal that voters will not read in the voting booth allows a human cloning procedure known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Using this procedure scientists would create human embryos only to destroy them for biomedical research purposes. This type of research is commonly referred to as “therapeutic cloning.”

In their appeal the bishops state, “Despite the fact that the proposed initiative authorizes cloning for biomedical research, the Secretary of State’s Official Ballot Title (“Ballot Title”) states that the Proposed Initiative will ‘ban human cloning.’ Consequently, a Missouri voter who wants to ban human cloning for all purposes will be deceived by the Official Ballot Title which makes no distinction between cloning for research and cloning for reproduction. Catholic Missouri voters could unwittingly vote for a ‘ban on human cloning or attempted cloning’ because such would be entirely consistent with the teachings of their faith. Only later would these voters discover that their votes did not support their respect for the sanctity of human life.”

In filing their appeal the bishops added their support to an appeal filed by the plaintiffs, Missourians Against Human Cloning