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03/01/2006
Appeal Court to
Consider Deceptive Human Cloning Ballot Initiative
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Mar. 1 -- Tomorrow, a Missouri court of appeals will hear oral arguments on whether the Secretary of State's ballot summary of a proposed "Stem Cell Initiative" deceives Missouri voters into protecting human cloning in their state constitution. The Missouri Secretary of State’s Official Ballot Summary states that the Initiative "bans human cloning." However, the Initiative text reveals that it bans only cloning to produce children (sometimes called "reproductive cloning") while constitutionally protecting cloning for embryonic stem cell research (sometimes called "therapeutic cloning"). Nikolas T. Nikas, president and general counsel of the Bioethics Defense Fund, stated "This ballot summary is grossly deceptive to Missouri voters. It's like saying that an Initiative 'bans the death penalty' when the measure actually bans only the use of the electric chair, while creating constitutional protection for death by lethal injection." Dorinda Bordlee, senior counsel of the Bioethics Defense Fund explained, "The trial record established that the Secretary of State accepted a draft of a proposed ballot summary written by the Proponents of the Initiative themselves who have a vested interest in obfuscating the term 'human cloning' to deceive Missouri voters who strongly object to cloning human embryos for their destruction. "This deception of Missouri voters does a disservice to both science and democracy -- both of which flourish under fair and objective information," said Bordlee. The Initiative Proponents are still in the signature gathering stage in their attempt to get this Initiative on the November 2006 ballot. Nikas, who served as one of the leading co-counsel at trial, said that the Missouri Court of Appeal can remedy this deception by ordering the trial court to apply established Missouri law that requires the official ballot summary to fairly inform Missouri voters of the core purposes of the Initiative. "The appeal court need only order the addition of one sentence to make this a fair contest of ideas in the democratic process. The ballot summary must reveal that it 'protects human cloning for embryonic stem cell research," said Nikas. For more information, go to www.BDFund.org The case is Missourians Against Human Cloning v. Carnahan, Appeal No. WD66495 in the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District.
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