Missouri Bishops File Intervention in Human Cloning Initiative Petition

December 13, 2005, JEFFERSON CITY, MO – On Dec. 13, 2005, the Catholic bishops of Missouri asked to intervene in a case challenging the ballot title of a proposed constitutional amendment on stem cell research. The bishops in their intervention argue that the official ballot title “misleads and deceives the voters of the state of Missouri.”

“The proponents of this amendment have been misleading the people of Missouri in TV advertising and in public statements,” said Bishop John Gaydos of the Diocese of Jefferson City, one of six Catholic bishops to sign the request. “The issue has tremendous moral implications for the voters. The bishops are weighing in to call attention to what is really going on. Catholic voters and all the rest of the voters in the state can see the magnitude of the issue and see through the not-so-clever deception.”

The ballot language states that the proposal will ban human cloning. The proposal redefines human cloning to refer to human cloning only as effected if the embryo is implanted in a woman’s uterus. The original plaintiffs in the case, Missourians Against Human Cloning, argue that the redefinition of human cloning in the proposed amendment misleads voters because it does not conform with either the scientific definition of cloning or its popular understanding among the public.

Bishop John Leibrecht of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau said, “As stated, the language of the ballot is confusing, Missouri citizens deserve the right to have a full and informed debate on human cloning, but the ballot language avoids that needed public debate.”

Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph said, “Should the proposed amendment pass, the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures will have free reign to conduct a kind of cloning called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, (SCNT) which is necessary for the production of human embryos. Embryonic stem cell research depends on the production of human embryos through this cloning technique, the same one used to produce ‘Dolly’ the cloned sheep. The proponents of the amendment want to safeguard this process but at the same time, they want to reassure the public that ‘no cloning is involved. This is deceptive. The amendment would exclude ‘reproductive cloning,’ but would allow ‘therapeutic cloning.’ We are against all human cloning. Cloning is cloning.”

As the bishops of Missouri are responsible for the oversight of numerous Catholic institutions including Catholic universities and hospitals which engage in scientific and medical research in genetics, reproductions and other areas within the scope of the proposed constitutional amendment, they felt it was important to join with the original plaintiffs. The bishops state in the motion that the enactment of the proposed constitutional amendment may adversely affect the Catholic Church’s right of conscience to morally object to certain therapies and cures deemed unethical by its teachings.

“This human cloning petition is both deceptive and potentially could have a detrimental impact on the Catholic Church in Missouri,” said Deacon Larry Weber, Executive Director of the Missouri Catholic Conference. “Catholics need to be aware of what this petition really seeks to do and how it will affect them.”

Bishop Finn also pointed out, “Throughout the state, political leaders and business leaders are telling their bishops that they have been pressured to support this amendment. They are being told if they don’t support this kind of research they are anti-growth and development, anti-jobs, anti-cures. Additionally, a series of ads uses former U.S. Senator John Danforth to implore the public to sign the petition to put this question on the ballot.”

“We are not against the good growth and commerce of Kansas City or our state. We want cures, and they are being found, in fact, in licit adult stem cell therapies. What the coalition’s proposed amendment seeks is the license to carry out research that is intrinsically evil and immoral. They wish to make sure that there will not be a state ban on this type of cloning or on embryonic stem cell research. Catholics and all persons of good will should disassociate themselves from the petition and amendment.”

The Missouri Baptist Convention has also filed a motion for intervention.

The Missouri Catholic Conference, the public policy voice of the Catholic Church in Missouri filed the petition on behalf of the Catholic bishops of Missouri. The four diocesan ordinaries, Archbishop Raymond Burke and Auxiliary Bishop Robert Hermann of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Bishop John Gaydos of the Diocese of Jefferson City, Bishop Robert Finn and Bishop Emeritus Raymond Boland of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Bishop John Leibrecht of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, are the six Catholic bishops of Missouri.