Amendment 2

We’ve been sporadically following the MIssouri battle over Amendment 2 – a battle which just might overtake California’s similar process in 2004 as winner of "Most Deceptive." Let’s try to do a wrap-up.

Amendment 2 would essentially write the "right" to conduct research involving cloning human embryos into the Missouri state constitution. It is, of course, not being sold that way. And "sold" is the operative word:

Look at the numbers:

Backers of a measure on the Nov. 7 ballot to support stem-cell research in Missouri raised nearly $12.7 million in the last quarter, campaign reports showed Monday.

Meanwhile, three opposing groups reported raising $1.2 million, according to reports filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission.

Amendment 2, the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, would permit scientists to conduct all federally allowed stem-cell research while placing certain restrictions on research techniques. Some opponents said the initiative could lead to cloning.

The Coalition for Lifesaving Cures raised $12.68 million from July 15 to Oct. 15, reports show. The group raised $28.74 million in the past year, with about $28 million of that from James and Virginia Stowers, who created the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

The summary of the amendment, as voters will read it on the ballot is:

Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to allow and set limitations on stem cell research, therapies, and cures which will:

ensure Missouri patients have access to any therapies and cures, and allow Missouri researchers to conduct any research, permitted under federal law;

ban human cloning or attempted cloning;

require expert medical and public oversight and annual reports on the nature and purpose of stem cell research;

impose criminal and civil penalties for any violations; and

prohibit state or local governments from preventing or discouraging lawful stem cell research, therapies and cures?"

A website for the opposition to Amendment 2 is focusing on the deception issue, taking the "ban cloning" point as the center – the website is called 2Tricky:

When you see Amendment 2 at your polling place, you will be asked to decide whether to "ban human cloning or attempted cloning." Sounds good so far, right? Who’s in favor of human cloning anyway?

But the 2,100-word Constitutional Amendment—which you won’t see on election day—actually creates legal protection for human cloning. Hard to believe? It’s true. Amendment 2 only outlaws reproductive cloning, which no one in Missouri (or anywhere else on earth) is doing.

Meanwhile, it protects anyone who wants to clone human beings for science experiments. Amendment 2 glosses over the issue of lab-created human life with complicated phrases like "Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer." But cloning is cloning, and Amendment 2 would put this ethically questionable practice beyond the reach of state law.

Amendment 2 is "2 tricky." And the human-cloning "bait and switch" is just the beginning.

Wesley Smith explains the deception a bit more.

The Missouri Catholic Conference is very strong here – both on the political and spiritual side – here’s a novena they’re promoting.