Judge rewrites ballot summary for Missouri's stem cell initiative

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A judge rewrote the ballot language Wednesday for a proposed constitutional amendment banning a particular kind of embryonic stem cell research after supporters claimed the state's original description was biased.

The ruling marks the second time that courts have struck down ballot summaries prepared by Secretary of State Robin Carnahan for contentious initiatives. Last month, a judge rewrote the ballot language for a proposal limiting affirmative action programs.

Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce ruled that Carnahan's summary of the stem cell amendment was "insufficient and unfair" but didn't elaborate on why in her short written decision.

The ballot proposal would reverse part of a constitutional amendment narrowly approved by voters in 2006 that ensured all federally allowed stem cell research and treatments can occur in Missouri. That measure allowed the use of an embryonic cloning technique, which the latest proposal seeks to ban.

Under Missouri law, sponsors of citizen initiatives submit their proposals to the secretary of state's office, which then writes a summary to appear on the ballot.

After Carnahan released the stem cell summary in October, the sponsoring group Cures Without Cloning immediately claimed her language was biased against it. The group has been waiting to gather the petition signatures needed to make the November ballot until its legal challenge was resolved.

A spokesman for Cures Without Cloning had no immediate comment about Wednesday's ruling.

Carnahan's office released a brief written statement defending its description.

"It's our job under the law to summarize initiative petitions, and the summary we prepared for this measure is fair and accurately reflects the underlying measure," the secretary of state said.

Carnahan's original summary would have asked voters whether "to repeal the current ban on human cloning or attempted cloning and to limit Missouri patients' access to stem cell research, therapies and cures approved by voters in November 2006."

The judge's revision asks voters whether "to change the definition of cloning and ban some of the research as approved by voters in November 2006."

Joyce largely adopted the language suggested by Cures Without Cloning in its lawsuit.

Specifically, the judge struck Carnahan's further description that the measure was "redefining the ban on human cloning or attempted human cloning to criminalize and impose civil penalties for some existing research, therapies and cures."

Instead, Joyce substituted language proposed by supporters that says it's "prohibiting human cloning that is conducted by creating a human embryo at any stage from the one-cell stage onward."

The judge also added a line proposed by sponsors noting that other stem cell research would be allowed.

At issue is a procedure known scientifically as somatic cell nuclear transfer, in which a person's cell is injected into a human egg, which is then stimulated to grow as if it had been fertilized by a sperm. Scientists remove the resulting stem cells for research, destroying the newly formed embryo.

There is no indication anyone is Missouri is conducting such research. But proponents hope it could someday lead to treatments for such ailments as Parkinson's disease and spinal cord injuries.

Last year's amendment made it a crime, punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, to "clone or attempt to clone a human being." But its definition of human cloning allowed somatic cell nuclear transfer, as long as no one attempted to implant the cloned embryo in a woman's uterus.

Opponents of last year's measure contend that definition is deceptive. They claim a cloned human exists the moment scientists create that embryo and assert a human is killed when the stem cells are removed.