Lawmakers propose Amendment 2 repeal

Two lawmakers want another vote on stem-cell research, claiming voters were deceived into passing Amendment 2 as a way to ban human cloning.

State Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Lee's Summit, and state Rep. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis County, spoke Tuesday to about 30 people, almost all opponents of Amendment 2, during a stop at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. They announced they will push for a state constitutional amendment that repeals every word of Amendment 2 and substitutes a 46-word ban on any work that results in a genetic human copy regardless of whether the intent is to create a living human being.

Amendment 2, passed Nov. 7 by a 51 percent majority, protects stem-cell research projects using fertilized embryos and embryos created by making genetic copies. The amendment imposes stiff prison terms and fines on anyone seeking to create a living human clone.

Missourians who voted against Amendment 2 did so because they want to ban all forms of cloning, Lembke said. "Even those who voted for Amendment 2 went in there and voted that way because of deceptive ballot language and believed they were banning human cloning."

Bartle and Lembke said they will push their proposal during the legislative session that begins Jan. 3. They came to Cape Girardeau as a stop on a statewide tour pushing their proposal because this region of the state strongly opposed Amendment 2.

Despite their claims voters were deceived, Bartle said he doesn't think voters are stupid. "The majority of voters are incredibly smart. The more voters understood about Amendment 2, the less support it had."

Prior to the big push by opponents, Amendment 2 showed strong support in polls. After two months of campaigning that the measure was a deception, that support dropped to 51 percent on Election Day.

One supporter of Amendment 2, lawyer Mike Maguire, attended the airport event. Bartle and Lembke are trying to overturn the will of a majority of Missourians, he said. "For them to say it is deceptive is to assume that people didn't know what they were voting on," Maguire said. "It is sour grapes."

When their statewide tour was announced, Bartle and Lembke said the purpose was to pursue a "genuine ban on human cloning."

Bartle said they chose to repeal the entire text of Amendment 2 because modifying it would be too cumbersome and would leave the issue open to interpretation. "We don't want lawyers and judges to decide this," he said.

The Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, the campaign committee that pushed Amendment 2, is still operating. It reacted quickly to the proposal from Bartle and Lembke, calling their effort another "attempt by a few politicians to push their failed agenda of outlawing stem-cell research and cures in our state" in a prepared release.

"They want a do-over," coalition spokeswoman Connie Farrow said. "They are trying to use the democratic process to impose their narrow-minded views."

Suggestions that Missourians were deceived during the campaign for Amendment 2 ignores the millions spent on advertising, the numerous debates and rallies by both sides around the state and demeans the mental capacity of voters, Farrow said.

"There was unfettered discussion about this issue," Farrow said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 12