Hundreds rally against embryonic cloning procedure at Mo. Capitol

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Hundreds of opponents of embryonic stem-cell research crammed the Capitol halls Wednesday urging a statewide election on whether to overturn a voter-approved constitutional protection for such research.

Legislative proposals to put a stem-cell research amendment back on the 2008 ballot have stalled in divided House and Senate committees.

But Wednesday, Rep. Jim Lembke told ralliers he was pursuing a seldom-used petition method to try to yank the legislation out of committee and onto the House debate calendar.

If the Legislature fails this year to refer the measure to the 2008 ballot, Missourians Against Human Cloning will lead an initiative petition drive to place it there, pledged the group's executive director, Jaci Winship.

Voters narrowly approved an amendment in November that protects stem-cell research, including an embryonic cloning technique critics claim creates and destroys human life at its earliest stages. The ballot measure prohibited governments from denying funding to entities because they conduct stem-cell research.

Opponents want to undo parts of Amendment 2 by banning the cloning procedure and giving lawmakers the power to regulate funding for health-care research.

Amendment 2 supporters "have taken on a highly motivated pro-life community that is used to long, protracted battles. We don't give up. We will not stop until we are successful," Sen. Matt Bartle, a sponsor of the new ballot proposal, told more than 500 people at a Capitol rally.

Missouri Right to Life estimated about 1,000 people -- most wearing red shirts and anti-cloning stickers -- participated in the legislative lobby day. Bartle, R-Lee's Summit, said it was one of the largest advocacy crowds he has seen at the Capitol.

At issue is a research method in which scientists take a patient's cell and inject it into a human egg, then stimulate it to grow as if it had been fertilized by a sperm. Scientists then remove the resulting stem cells for research, destroying the newly formed embryo.

The cloning procedure is known scientifically as somatic cell nuclear transfer.

It's allowed under Amendment 2, which banned "human cloning" and defined that as trying to implant a scientifically created embryo into a woman's uterus to create a baby.

Opponents contend that definition is deceptive. They claim a cloned human exists the moment scientists create that embryo.

"I believe only God should create life, and I believe that all humans are equal, including unborn humans," said Erica Keithly, of Columbia, who came to the Capitol with her husband, 11-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son to lobby lawmakers to support another statewide vote on the cloning issue.

Last year's ballot measure was sponsored by the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, a group of patient advocacy groups, researchers, businesses and individuals financed largely by the founders of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City.

Supporters say embryonic stem cells hold greater potential than adult stem cells for treating ailments such as Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries.

"We stand firm in our contention that the state constitution clearly bans any attempt to clone a human being, and we reject the notion that Missourians were too stupid to know what they were doing when they voted to pass Amendment 2," said coalition spokeswoman Connie Farrow, who came to the Capitol to monitor the rally by opponents.

"Make no mistake, we are not going to let this group undo what we fought so hard to accomplish," Farrow said.

Among those at Wednesday's rally to reverse the cloning definition were Dan and Cindy Suddarth, of Troy, the uncle and aunt of state Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, one of the biggest backers of Amendment 2.

Cindy Suddarth said Amendment 2's cloning ban was deceptive and wrong.

"I know a lot of people who voted for this who thought they were voting just the opposite," she said.

Graham, however, vowed to filibuster the recently proposed constitutional amendments sponsored by Bartle and Lembke, R-St. Louis.

"I love my family, but they're not going to sway my vote on this issue," Graham said.